


Don't Spook Unless You're Spoken to

by Egregious_Nidus



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aka Thomas moved into a haunted house, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Bite marks, Bullying, Fluff, Foster Care, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Haunted Houses, If You Squint - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Like Exceptionally Bad, M/M, Major character death because duh, Mostly From Patton, Really Bad Puns, Robbery, Roceit - Freeform, Scars, Some angst, Suicide, analogical - Freeform, and things get sPoOkY from there, bear traps, ghost au, i will add more tags as we go along, mild violence, mostly surrounding the deaths of the cast, verbal arguments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-02-16 12:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21508009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Egregious_Nidus/pseuds/Egregious_Nidus
Summary: It might have been because of how tiring the day was but just before he completely closed his eyes, he could have sworn he saw a blue light emanating from the corner of his room. His eyes shot open, and he wasn’t imagining it; there was an almost translucent guy, who looked about 30, with short curly hair, glasses and some sort of sweater tied around his shoulders in the corner of his room. The most noticeable feature on his face was a big scratch down the side of his temple, but to Thomas, the most surprising thing about this was that he was glowing blue.“Can’t say I’m too shocked at this development,” Thomas said
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Comments: 35
Kudos: 157





	1. Lift Your Spirits!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all!  
> This was just a fun little idea I've had in the works for a while. I have all the character's backstories planned out and cannot wait to flesh this out into a full fleged story, but until I have a definite way I want to go, it's just going to be fluffy ghost antics.  
> I'll add trigger warnings at the start of every chapter.  
> Tw death, scars, guns, and robbery. Tell me if I missed any!

“This is the only house we could find in your budget,” said the kind real estate agent, Deborah, sliding a picture of a house in front of Thomas. It was a pretty normal looking house, aside from the vines crawling up one of the sides of the brick house, he couldn’t see why it was priced so low. It was rather nice looking and had a homely feel to it. He was already excited for what living alone would have to offer. He’d have lots of freedom and could eat as much pizza as he liked.

  
“I’ll take it,” Thomas said, ready to get up and move all his furniture in already. To his dismay, Deborah reached underneath her desk and pulled out a big binder full of legal papers. After a week of looking over all the contracts and finalizing, the house finally belonged to Thomas. During this week, he found out the reason it was priced so low; not only was it right next to a cemetery, the previous renters claimed it to be haunted and after the owner couldn’t get any more people to rent it, he decided to put it up on the market. Thomas, being a skeptic, was overjoyed to find a good house this cheaply priced. He did note, though, that when he stepped into the property, he felt a chill run down his spine, which he chalked up to excitement at living himself.

  
Joan and Talyn helped him move in, helping Thomas get organized.

“I agree with you, Talyn, this place is _totally_ haunted” Joan said after they heard a thud echo from somewhere upstairs, “I searched it up, and apparently the Spruce Knoll Cemetery has been there since 1714.”

“Oh come on,” Thomas huffed, “even if it was haunted, I like it here. I wouldn’t want to leave, especially so quickly after getting it. Plus, even if there are ghosts here, it doesn’t mean the ghosts are evil or anything.” Thomas had checked out the cemetery earlier in the day and with the bright sun and crisp autumn leaves surrounding the graves, it almost seemed peaceful and not at all something that would provoke malevolent spirits.

  
“To be fair in a lot of movies, the ghosts aren’t only malicious entities” Talyn chimed in, “Like Casper” They heard another thud from upstairs, but nobody seemed too keen to check to see what was making the noise.

  
“Well it was nice moving you in, Thomas, but I want to live until I’m at least fifty,” Joan said, already edging towards the door. Talyn was following suit, though not as quickly.

  
“Have a good night guys,” Thomas said, “I’ll text you if any ghost try to kill me or whatever” He cracked a smile as they quickly left, turning to the inside of the empty house.

  
He pulled out his phone and ordered some pizza, glancing guilty at his oven, which he would certainly not use often, given his previous cooking experience, which is to say, next to none. He sat down on his newly moved in couch and turned on the tv to a random channel. It played in the background as he scrolled through twitter on his phone. He heard more weird sounds from upstairs, but he had checked up there earlier and found nothing noteworthy. He figured that the sound must be a faulty pipe or something. The pizza came and he ate a couple of pieces. He wrapped up the extra slices in tin foil and put them in the fridge.

  
Thomas went upstairs and after once again checking for any ghosts, went to bed. It might have been because of how tiring the day was but just before he completely closed his eyes, he could have sworn he saw a blue light emanating from the corner of his room. His eyes shot open, and he wasn’t imagining it; there was an almost translucent guy, who looked about 30, with short curly hair, glasses and some sort of sweater tied around his shoulders in the corner of his room. The most noticeable feature on his face was a big scratch down the side of his temple, but to Thomas, the most shocking thing about this was that he was glowing blue.  
“Can’t say I’m too shocked at this development,” Thomas said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting up. The ghost seemed shocked, his eyes widening.

  
“You can see me?” He asked, beaming at Thomas, “Oh, kiddo this is great!”

  
“So you don’t want to kill me?” Thomas asked, questions all brimming to the surface of his mind, “You’re a ghost right? Are there more of you?”

  
“Gosh no, I wouldn’t want to hurt you,” The spectre replied, “Yes, I’m a ghost and yes there are more of us.”

  
“I’m sorry, where are my manners?” Thomas said, sheepishly, “I’m Thomas. What’s your name?”

  
“I’m Patton!” He replied, “And don’t feel bad for not asking my name. I can imagine the last thing on your mind after meeting a ghost is formalities like that.” Thomas extended his arm to shake hands, but they didn’t connect as Patton’s hand went right through his own. Thomas felt a chill go down his hand.

  
“I thought that would happen, but there’s no shame in trying!” Patton said, ever the optimist.

  
“Can I meet the others?” Thomas asked, suddenly very eager.

  
“There’s only one or two that’d probably want to talk to you right now,” Patton said, for the first time looking a little downcast, “I didn’t tell you yet, but they were the ones who drove the old owners out. To be fair, all of the old renters couldn’t see me, or any of us, and they were kind of intruding in our space. The sounds you probably heard earlier? Those were them, trying to scare you”

  
“Well, I don’t want to cause a lot of trouble, but I also can’t move.” Thomas said, mulling over possible solutions to the space issue, “Are there some rooms that they particularly like that I shouldn’t mess around with?”

  
“Well, they do like the attic,” Patton replied, “I’ll talk it over with them later and maybe we can come to a consensus. For now, though, let’s introduce you to some of the others!”

  
Thomas went to open the door to let Patton through, but the ghost simply walked through the wall adjoining Thomas’ room to the hallway. Patton led Thomas to the living room, where Thomas was met by a tv playing some episode from Parks and Rec and two men, similarly glowing like Patton, though different colors. The one glowing blue darker than Patton’s was wearing glasses, had a tie and a dress shirt on, and had sharper facial features than the other two. Past the collar of his shirt, you could see vein-like scars on his neck and the same scar patterns on his hands. The one that was glowing red wore an almost costume-like prince outfit, had swept hair, and was visibly taller than the other two. Unlike the other two, he didn’t have any visible scars that could clue Thomas in on how they died. They both appeared to be in their mid 20’s. The red ghost heard them first and turned towards them, smiling at a joke from the show.

  
“Hey Patt… Oh my god” He said his facial expression turned to one a mix of horror and shock when he saw Thomas, who waved awkwardly. The dark blue ghost turned also and when he regarded Thomas, he seemed shocked, though he didn’t say anything and his features schooled into one of mild curiosity.

  
“Patton care to explain?” The ghost asked, a slight arch to his eyebrow.

  
“Ok, so I wanted to check on Thomas to see if he was situated and it turns out he can see us so I had to have him meet you guys because I couldn’t be the only one to know about this,” Patton took a large breath, “Anyways, that’s Roman” he said pointing to the red ghost, “and that’s Logan” he said pointing to the dark blue ghost.

  
“Uh,” Thomas said, “Hi”

  
“Salutations” Logan replied. Logan seemed to be a bit lower on the chill meter and didn’t seem as shocked as Roman, who was still looking at him without hesitation.

  
“It’s… good to meet you, Thomas” Roman said.

  
“Have you told the others?” Logan asked, looking at Patton sharply.

  
“Not yet” Patton replied, “You guys were the first to know”

  
“Are you going to tell them?” Roman asked.

  
“Well gosh I couldn’t keep a secret that big,” Patton admitted, “Plus, I promised Thomas I’d help him make nice with the others so we could all live in relative peace.”

  
“I shall assist you then” Logan said, “If Thomas can truly see us, then there’s no need for cheap scare tactics. We can negotiate this peacefully.”

  
“Thanks, Logan!” Thomas said, grateful for the calmer ghost. He trusted Patton but he was glad to have some backup. Logan nodded and straightened his tie.

  
“I will as well!” Roman said.

  
“Boy am I glad you two are going with me,” Patton said, “Because I’m pretty sure that the attic has spiders and I don't think I could go near those creepy crawly death dealers alone.”

  
“But this all begs the question,” Logan said, walking through the couch and coming close to Thomas, looking at him as if to discern something, “How can you see us? The old renters couldn’t and the only form of communication we had with them were small pranks conducted by the others.”

  
“I’m not sure…” Thomas said, pondering the question at hand.

  
“Perhaps it has to do with the situation we find ourselves in.” Roman said, “Perhaps something happened to Thomas that didn’t happen to Helen and Derek.”

  
“Helen and Derek?” Thomas asked.

  
“The old renters” Logan clarified.

  
“Well, maybe that's it. I own the building and they rented it. Maybe it could be that?” Thomas pondered.

  
“Perhaps that’s it,” Logan said, “We should think about this more another time. For now, Thomas should go to bad, as it is way past the average time most adults go to sleep. Patton, Roman, and myself will talk to the others about this development.” Thomas looked at the clock and realised with a shock that Logan was right, it was 2 AM.

  
“Do you guys not sleep?” Thomas asked.

  
“We do not have to, seeing as we’re not alive,” Logan replied, “I’ve observed that we don’t have a normal circadian rhythm”

  
“See you guys in the morning then,” Thomas yawned and went upstairs to sleep.

When he woke up, he didn’t immediately remember what happened last night and went downstairs to find Roman, Logan, and Patton on the couch, and the memories of last night came flooding back.

  
“Morning, guys,” Thomas said. He smelled something good coming from the kitchen but instead focused on his ghost friends. He was met with two worried pairs of eyes and one calculating. “I’m guessing it didn’t go over that well?”

  
“Well it didn’t go awful,” Parton said, “They still said they wanted you out but that they’d hear you out.”

  
“They’re sending Virgil to scope you out, is what he’s getting to” Roman said.

  
“I’m assuming Virgil is one of the others?” Thomas asked.

  
Roman nodded and said, “I do not like him.”

  
“Roman!” Patton said.

  
“Sorry Patty Cake, but he’s just a creepy cookie” Roman said.

  
“I find Virgil’s company to be adequate,” Logan said, “Unlike you two, he can be more relaxing to talk with.” He pauses and then continued, “Well, unless you’re debating with him, then he tends to be more animated.”

  
“Oh!” Patton suddenly exclaimed, “I needed something to keep myself busy, so I made you some breakfast!”

  
“I was wondering what that smell was.” Thomas said, heading to the kitchen. Roman and Logan went back to sitting on the couch, Logan doing a crossword puzzle and Roman phasing through a wall, going to another room. When he walked into the kitchen he was met with a stack of heavenly looking pancakes.

“I’m glad I remembered how to make them right!” The blue ghost said, “It’s been a while since I last cooked for somebody who could actually eat it.”

  
“How did you make it? I thought you went right through objects.”

  
“Even though we can’t physically touch humans, we can kind of choose what objects we can interact with, sometimes even subconsciously. For example, I don’t usually focus on standing on the floor, it just happens.”

  
“Gotcha” Thomas bit down on one of the pancakes and immediately a burst of flavor entered his mouth.

  
“Patton,” Thomas said, mouth still full of pancake, “This is literally the best thing I have ever tasted.”

  
“Aww glad you feel that way, kiddo!” Patton said, smiling. Thomas ate the rest of the pancakes, savoring every bite. When he was done he wanted to bring up another idea he had. When Thomas was done, he went to the living room, after Patton offered to do the dishes.

  
“Logan?” Thomas said, looking over at the stoic ghost.

  
“Yes, Thomas?” Logan said, not looking away from his crossword.

  
“I was wondering if I could tell my close friends, Joan and Talyn about this?” Thomas asked nervously, “I was wondering if we could test the owner theory by having you or Patton or Roman show up and see if they can see you guys or not.”

  
“What you do is not up to me,” Logan responded simply, “However, logically speaking you should wait until the negotiations are over. I’m assuming you don’t want the others antagonizing your friends.”

  
“Yeah thanks, Logan!”

  
“I am intrigued, however at the results of this test,” Logan said, “Whats a 3 letter word for annoying?”

  
“You” A new voice said in a slightly sarcastic tone. Thomas turned his head sharply to see a colored ghosts, this time purple. He was wearing a hoodie, had extreme bags under his eyes or just really dark smudged makeup, and had big headphones wrapped around his neck. He was wearing a sardonic smirk and his skin appeared more pale than the others. Like Patton and Logan, he had some sort of indicator of his death, under his headphones you could make out that his neck had a line of bruises and scarring.

  
“Incorrect,” Logan said, looking up from his crossword, “The correct answer was vex.” The ghost rolled his eyes and then noticed Thomas, narrowing them at him.  
“So you’re the guy,” He said, nodding his head, “The names Virgil. I’m here on behalf of Damien and team ‘It’s Our House and Nobody Else's.’”

  
“Damien?”

  
“Did they not explain anything to you?” Virgil asked, motioning to Logan, the only other ghost in the room at the time.

  
“We figured we’d let you explain your side of the story before we impose our views on Thomas.” Logan said.

  
“Okay…” Virgil said taking a breath, presumably to collect his thoughts, “So basically we’ve been living here for a while now, an-”

  
“Is that my favorite dark strange son?” Patton exclaimed, popping out through the wall of the kitchen and hugging the purple ghost, who looked equally unamused and affectionate.

  
“Ok dad, get off of me” Virgil said, rolling his eyes, “I’m not supposed to interact with the enemy, you know”

  
“Pssh nobody follows those rules.” Patton said.

  
“Patton,” Virgil said, “I was kinda explaining our side to the Thomas.”

  
“Sorry, kiddo” Patton said, sheepishly. He moved away from Virgil and headed towards Logan and the couch.

  
“Anyways, as I was saying, most of us have been here way longer than you have and you kind of moved in without permission. I mean, not me, I’ve only been here for like 16 years… uh, but ghosts like Damien, who’s the oldest one… he’s been here since 1789 and he doesn’t exactly… uh how do I put this?” Virgil paused, evidently uncomfortable with talking about this, “He doesn’t like people invading his personal space. Neither do I or Remus. Patton, Logan, and Princey might not want you gone, but we do, so uh…” Virgil motioned his hands towards the door.

  
“Well I’m sorry, but I’m caught between a rock and a hard place,” Thomas said, “I can’t exactly leave this place without selling it and there’s no way somebody would buy this house. Before I got it, it was on the market for 6 months. I can’t live that long on my own funds.”

  
“Those were the quietest six months of my life… er not life, I guess, death” Virgil said sheepishly, “Sorry, even after 16 years I’m still not used to it”

  
“Earlier you mentioned a Remus,” Thomas said, “Who’s that?”

  
“Oh well he-”

  
“Emo nightmare!” Roman said, coming bursting through the wall, “I would say I was glad you’re here but when you do decide to retreat out of your angsty decorated cave you usually bring the mood down.”

  
“Will everyone stop interrupting me when I’m giving Thomas information you guys just, I dunno, left out?” Virgil said, looking frustrated.

  
“He’s only been here a day,” Roman said, “We didn’t tell him the full story because we didn’t have time, Gerard Gay.”

  
Virgil snorted, “Anyways, Princey, I was just telling Thomas about Remus.” Roman’s face soured. “Care to tell him or shall I?”

  
“I’ll do it” Roman grumbled something under his breath that sounded mildly offensive, but Thomas just couldn’t catch it. “Remus is my twin brother. He’s loud, crude, and makes up terrible ideas.”

  
“As opposed to your brilliant ones?” Virgil asked sarcastically.

  
“Yes,” Roman said, “Exactly. He’s been ruining my life since we were children. Once he was getting bullied, I stood up for him and then suddenly he was mad at me! Can you believe that?”

  
“Perhaps, and this is just a suggestion, mind you,” Virgil said, “Not be a total dick about your brother?”

  
“Only if he doesn’t be such a total dick to me!” Roman said, “I mean on my starring role in the local production of Pippin, he didn’t even come to the one and only time I performed!”

  
“You only had one show?” Thomas asked. As a fan of musical theatre, himself this was perplexing as even the most unseasoned actors know that there's generally more than one showing of each show.

  
“Well I would have performed in more if I could,” Roman sniffed, “But alas, only the good die young”

  
“Oh, Roman I’m so sorry,” Thomas said, “You don’t have to tell me if you feel uncomfortable.”

  
“Well jeez if you insist,” Roman said pompously. Virgil snorted but the red ghost still continued talking, “After a riveting performance that my brother casually didn’t show up to, I was walking home through the sketchy part of town because it was the fastest way to get home. I had done this for years, mind you, so It wasn’t some stupid rash descision that caused my doom. Anyways, I happened to see a young damsel in distress. The poor girl was getting robbed at gunpoint and naturally I had to intervene so I ran behind her attacker and hit him on the head. As I went to assist the damsel, I was shot twice by the robber.” He pulled up his shirt to reveal two gunshot scars, one in the middle of his ribs and one that looked almost perfectly positioned over his heart, “Anyways at that point the cops showed up I was wheeled into the ER and subsequently died. I don’t know exactly what happened during that time period, but I remember specifically wanting to stay alive so that I could… nevermind.” He coughed, “The point is I wanted to stay alive and that’s why I think I became a ghost instead of moving on. Or whatever happens, none of us know.”

  
“So it was a stupid rash descision that caused your death,” Virgil said, “Princey I don’t think I gave you enegh credit for how much of a clueless moron you are all of the time.”

  
“Well, emo nightmare, did you die doing something heroic?” Roman asked pointedly.

  
Virgil's face darkened, but he quickly covered it up with a mask of indifference. “Wouldn't you like to know, Princey”

  
“Roman I think you did something very brave.” Thomas said, noting that the red ghost’s face immediately brightened at the praise, “What you did was pretty admirable.”

  
“At least someone respects me around here,” Roman said, puffing his chest out., “But seriously, Thomas you mustn't worry about what my brother or his compatriots say to you. They don’t believe that people should be kind to each other and generally not be huge butts to one another, while I’ve watched enough Disney to know that friendship always prevails!”

  
“Really now?” Virgil said, narrowing his eyes, “Disney isn't the best role model to grow up with especially because of it’s mixed messages.”

  
“Well hold on, Disney is a beacon of purity and goodness,” Roman said, putting his hand over his heart, scandalized, “There are not mixed messages, it’s all very black and white.”

  
“Well I beg to differ.” Virgil said haughty and Thomas remembered Logan’s passing comments about Virgil: _“I find Virgil’s company to be adequate,” “Well, unless you’re debating with him, then he tends to be more animated.”_

  
“Guys, how about this?” Thomas said, “I’ll give you a Disney movie and you guys tell me the messages you get from it.”

  
“Sounds good to me!”

  
“Sure, whatever”

  
“Okay…” Thomas said, wracking his brain for a good one, “How about Pinnochio?”

  
“Well this one’s easy.” Roman said, grinning, “Don’t lie. A valuable lesson for any child to learn.”

  
“Uh, how about, when two strangers come up to you and try to convince you to skip school, let them because you’ll go on adventures.” Virgil said, “Listening to strangers is a very valuable lesson, huh Princey?”

  
“Well in the end, Pinnochio undoes all of his lies and learns not to do that anymore.”

  
“Yeah after endangering his dad and the only parental figure he’d ever known.”

  
“How about Alice in Wonderland?” Thomas asked.

“I believe the lesson would be just because you imagined an experience doesn’t make it any less real or impactful.” Roman said with gusto, “The human imagination knows no bounds and it’s best to let it run free.”

  
“My turn.” Virgil said, rolling his eyes “Again with the following strangers thing. Also, drugs are perfectly acceptable to consume, especially young children.”

  
“Aristocats”

“Accepting those in different social statuses can help those around you.”

  
“Or leave all of your inheritance to some cats instead of actual meaningful people in your life. And always trust the random stranger who decides to take pity on you.”

  
“Snow White?”

  
“Don’t do what Snow White did. This one is telling you not to trust strangers. What do you say to that, Grumpy?”

  
“I say that it immediately negates the lesson by having the prince, another complete stranger, come and kiss her to wake her up and immediately falling in love. Also there’s a weird lack of consent there.” Thomas tuned them out as they continued to debate and realised why all of the purple ghost’s answers seemed so similar. They were all, intentionally or not, directed at him. Thomas was the stranger in this situation. _Maybe that’s why Virgil wanted the house to himself_ , Thomas mused to himself, _It might be due to the fact that he had seemed to watch every Disney movie and come up with the same moral: strangers are not to be trusted under any circumstances._

  
“Thomas?” Roman said, “You there?”

  
“Sorry Roman, just spaced out there a little.” Thomas said sheepishly, “Anyways what did you want me to do?”

  
“We wanted to ask you which one of us you thought was right.” Virgil said.

  
“I don’t think there is a ‘right’ answer here” Thomas said, mulling it over, “I think everybody is entitled to their own interpretation and while my interpretation may be closer to Roman’s it doesn’t invalidate Virgil’s at all.”

  
“Whatever.” Virgil said, but Thomas could have sworn that he saw some relief in Virgil’s eyes, “I’ll go upstairs and tell Damien that you aren’t as bad as Derek and Helen… And, uh, I’ll tell him to talk to you directly next time. I’m sure you’d like to work it out directly.”

  
Virgil started to walk away and towards the stairs when Thomas said, “Hey, Virgil?” The purple ghost turned his head, confused. “I just wanted to let you know that you’re welcomed to come back down and talk any time. It was nice getting to know you a little.” Virgil turned away abruptly, but not before Thomas saw a hint of a smile on the ghost’s face.


	2. Here Ghost Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Thomas settles into his new life in the strange house, he also gets to know the ghosts better. Also more arguments, because they're the easiest way to progress the plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all!  
> Yes, all of my chapter names are going to be ghost puns, no, I'm not sorry. I was planning to get this out on Thanksgiving, but I forgot to post it, so I apologize for the delay. As a word of warning, I'm not focusing on the shipping as much as I am the story, and it could be read as platonic.  
> Hope you like it and as always, kudos and comments are very appreciated.  
> Trigger Warnings: Death, Bullying, Extistentialism, Verbal Arguments, Scars. If I forgot any don't hesitate to tell me!

Thomas had settled into his life with the ghosts pretty well, all things considered. It had only been a couple of days and he was regularly singing musical numbers with Roman, learning how to cook with Patton, and fixing electronics with Logan. Logan, despite being dead for evidently more than 100 years, is surprisingly astute about electrical appliances and after Thomas' refrigerator had broken down, the dark blue ghost's expertise came in handy. After the first meeting with Virgil he hadn’t seen the purple ghost. That is, until today.

Thomas was coming home from work as a waiter at a local restaurant when he saw the emo ghost, standing near a gravestone. When he spotted Thomas, he looked panicked, like a deer caught in headlights. Thomas wanted to approach him and look at the grave that Virgil was staring at, but decided not to intrude. He wanted Virgil to trust him, and if Thomas invaded his space, it would only worsen the rupture between them. He simply waved and started walking towards the house. Virgil caught up to him, out of breath.

“Sup, Thomas.” Virgil said.

“Hey, Virgil!” Thomas said, “How are you?”

“I’m… okay, I guess. You?” Virgil replied.

“Not doing to bad.” Thomas said.

“Um, don’t tell the others that I came here.” Virgil said, looking around as if someone were to see them, “It’s not like they care, but _I’d_ care if they knew. None of them go back to check on their graves, what if they think it’s stupid that I do?”

“Well, why do you come?” Thomas asked.

“I’m honestly not sure,” Virigl shrugged, “I think part of me doesn’t want to believe that I’m actually dead. I need a reality check every once in a while that it actually happened and I’m actually here. That this isn’t all one big fever dream, y’know?”

“I get it.” Thomas said, “Mum’s the word. I won’t tell a soul.”

“Thanks.” And with that, Virgil went to the right of the house and went into a wall, leading to some room in the house.

As Thomas entered the house he was greeted by a screaming match between Roman and Logan. Well, more like Roman was shouting and Logan was talking at a higher volume than normal.

“You cannot possibly think that I am overreacting about this!” Roman yelled.

“Listen, Roman, I’m just being objective here and I believe that he has a point,” Logan said, rubbing his temples, “I’m not saying you’re wrong but I am saying you are definitely being too emotional about this.”

“Logan, Roman, can we all just calm down and talk this out?” Patton said.

“Not when this buffoon refuses to listen to a logical argument.” Logan said, frustration evident all over his face.

“Excuse me, pocket protector.”

“Uh, hi guys.” Thomas said, closing the door.

“Heya, kiddo!” Patton said, relief written all over his face.

“Salutations, Thomas.” Logan said, straightening his tie.

“Welcome home, Thomas!” Roman said, glaring at Logan, “Sorry that you had to listen to that, teach over here was just enlightening me on how wrong I was about everything.”

“Roman is simply overreacting,” Logan said, “I was simply giving him tips on how to approach his brother an-”

“Unwarranted tips!” Roman said, “I never asked for advice on how to ‘better increase my understanding’ of him! We have never gotten along. It’s just the truth of things, Logan and no amount of _logical thinking_ is going to change that!”

“When you and Remus fight, it’s annoying and loud, and I can never get my work done.” Logan said, “Excuse me for trying to mend that.”

“What do you think, Thomas?” Roman asked.

“I think that Logan shouldn’t have stuck his head in your business without talking to you about if first.” Thomas said.

“Ha!” Roman said, triumphant, “See, specs? I was right!”

“Not so fast, Roman,” Thomas said, “I don’t completely disagree with Logan, though. I do believe that you two should make up if you two are going to spend who knows how long with each other.”

“Great!” Patton said, clapping his hands together and startling everyone, “Now can we please stop fighting and watch a movie or something?”

“Apologies, Patton.” Logan said, phasing through the couch and sitting down on it.

“Yeah, sorry Patty Cake” Roman said, looking sheepish, “I think I’m going to skip the movie and just head to my room.”

“I’ll walk you there.” Thomas offered, knowing full well that Roman would probably say no and then walk through the walls. It was to his surprise when Roman shrugged and started walking down the halls like a normal person. Thomas walked alongside him in silence. He figured if Roman wanted to talk, he would. They passed Patton and Logan’s rooms. They had told Thomas which rooms belonged to who. When they made it to the room down the end of the hall, a room Thomas had yet to enter out of respect for the ghosts, Roman opened it and let the door stay open, inviting Thomas in.

Despite Roman’s loud personality, his room was strangely bare. It had a bed with red sheets that was folded neatly and had a dresser to the right. The only thing remotely Roman about the room was a vanity in the corner, but even that was bare and empty, nothing on the table. Roman let out a sign and looked at Thomas with a sad expression that he’s never seen on the red ghost before.

“I lied earlier.” Roman said, finally, “There was a time when Remus and I got along.” He looked down into his tightly clenched hands, “It’s my fault we started _The Argument_ , and It’s my fault we never stopped it.”

“ _The Argument_?” Thomas asked.

“It the term we used for our constant bickering since… 5th grade, I think.” Roman said, “We had had sibling disputes before, but this time it was a full blown screaming match. We never talked about it afterwards unless we wanted to start another problem with the other, which has happened multiple times. Since then, every conversation we’ve had resulted in more spats, so we just started classifying them all under _The Argument_.”

“What was the first argument about?” Thomas asked, sitting down on Roman’s pristinely made bed.

“I don’t know if you could tell, but I was very popular in school.” Roman started off with and Thomas felt a smile tugging at his lips. It was the most Roman thing to come out of his mouth all day.

Roman continued, “I was a straight-A student, was outgoing, and had a large group of friends. Plus, the drama department girls all like me because I was one of the only boys to do the school musical. Back in the 60s boys weren’t at all encouraged to theatre, but despite my dad… well my dad being dad, I still participated. Remus, on the other hand was socially awkward, didn’t have any friends, and was bullied for this one big white tuft of hair. That was how you could tell us apart, y'know. Anyways, I heard about the bullying and went to put an end to it myself. I talked down the bullies by threatening to tell the principal. After the thugs left, I went to make sure Remus was okay when he punched me! He told me to stay out of his business and I said ‘Then maybe you shouldn’t get beat up’ and it devolved from there. No more punches were thrown but the emotional rift between us just spread and spread until it was a canyon apart”

Thomas started to say, “I’m so sorry, Ro-”

“No.” Roman interrupted, “No apologies, no pity. My dying wish was to make it up to Remus and what have I done in the past thirty-four years? Nothing! If anything, I should be apologizing to him.”

“If you really felt that way, then why were you arguing so much with Logan earlier?” Thomas asked.

“It’s going to sound silly,” Roman said, “But Logan was saying the same things I’ve been saying to myself since Remus ended up as a ghost like me. In a way, hearing my insecurities coming from someone else’s mouth felt like a personal attack. It’s stupid to think that way, I know.”

“No, I think I get it,” Thomas said.

“I acted dishonorably today and I shall apologise to Logan,” Roman said, “I believe I am feeling good enough for a movie after all. I shouldn’t be keeping you, though. You worked all day and haven’t had any food for dinner, right?” Thomas nodded and started to get up from the bed. Roman, who was now in a much better mood, went through the wall and Thomas presumed he was going to apologise to Logan.

As Thomas exited the door, a new face was standing far down the hallway. He started approaching Thomas and as he got closer, he could make out some defining features of the ghost. The ghost, like the others, glowed a certain color, this one yellow. He had an old fashioned hat and gloves on and some sort of cape around his shoulders. What almost made Thomas repulse from the man, however was half of his face, which was heavily scarred. It looked almost like a dotted rash that spread across half of his face, closing one eye shut and puffing up the lips slightly.

“Uh, hi!” Thomas said, “Are you Damien or Remus? Actually, silly question, you don’t look anything like Roman. Nice to meet you, Damien”

“I’d say it would be a pleasure, but that would be a lie.” Damien said, a heavy, almost snake-like lisp on the ‘s’ sound. It seemed his lips, as scared as they are, have a hard time forming that shape. Not only that but he had an accent that seemed like a softer english accent. “Part of me had to see it for myself. Never once in the 230 years I have been dead has one living person been able to hear and see me.”

“Well, I’m glad I can so that we could talk.” Thomas said, trying to direct his focus away from the ghost’s left side of his face. He wanted to know what caused the bumps and ridges of the scar, as now that Damien was an arm’s length away from him, he noticed that there appeared to be small wart like bumps all around and on top of his scar, “I’ve wanted to meet you since I first heard of you so that we could talk things out civilly.”

“Yes well sending Virgil might not have been the best idea,” Damien admitted, “In retrospect, I should have just come down here myself. What's the saying? If you want to get something done, do it yourself?" He paused to scan Thomas up and down, and Thomas refujsed to be intimidated by such a blatant air of superiority oozing from the man. 

Damien continued, "So here's my verdict: you leave us the hell alone.” Thomas was taken aback. Virgil hadn’t been the most welcoming guy, but at least he had been polite when asking him to leave.

“I can’t exactly do that,” Thomas said, “I don’t have the funds to buy another house. Unless you have a decent amount of money, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh sure, I have a secret stash of money upstairs” Damien said, “Because I, as someone from the 1780’s would have American paper money.”

“You’re from the 1700s?” Thomas asked.

“Yes,” Damien said curtly, “I also happened to know Alexander Hamilton personally.”

“You did?” Thomas asked growing excited at the prospect.

Damien snorted his scarred lips sneering into something ugly, “No.”

“As a fan of the musical how dare you for getting my hopes up.” Thomas said, glaring. He knew types like Damien and it was best to show that they weren’t getting under your skin, but he couldn't help but feel unnerved by how easily the man had lied.

“So you’re a musical fan like Roman.” The yellow ghost said wearing an expression that Thomas couldn’t decipher. Thomas’ stomach growled and he was reminded that he was yet to have dinner.

“If you don’t mind, I'd like to eat” Thomas said curtly, wanting to leave the conversation as soon as possible.

“Oh sure,” Damien said, “You must be gut-foundered. Wouldn’t want you to have a chameleon diet.”

Thomas had no clue what a gut-foundered or chameleon diet meant and resolved to look it up later. For all he knew, Damien could be insulting him so he just gave a nod and walked around Damien towards the kitchen.

He walked into a viewing of a disney movie that looked like Cinderella, but was definitely not the 1950s movie. On the couch were Patton, Logan, Roman, and, surprisingly, Virgil. Virgil looked over at Thomas with questioning eyes. Thomas made a zipped lip motion and Virgil visibly relaxed, watching the movie again.

After watching for a couple of minutes, Thomas asked, “What are you guys watching?”

“Only the best disney sequel ever, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.” Roman said.

“Princey’s wrong,” Virgil said leaning his head back to meet Thomas’ eyes, “This is number two in my book. The actual best disney sequel is Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch.”

“My favorite’s Mulan II,” Thomas said and received a boo from both Roman and Virgil with Roman throwing popcorn at Thomas, “Hey! First of all, as a kid it was one of my favorite movies. Second, I’m not cleaning that up and third, why do you even have popcorn? I thought you guys couldn’t eat.” Thomas jumped over the couch to sit with the rest of the ghosts. He stole Roman’s popcorn which resulted despite the red ghost’s mild protest.

Virgil sighed as if they had had this conversation many times, “Sir sing-a-lot over here likes to have it for the _aesthetic_ ”

“It’s not a movie without popcorn, everybody knows that!” Roman protested.

“Falsehood,” Logan shouted, the first time he had heard Logan yell, “Logically speaking, it is a movie with or without popcorn”

“Oh be quiet, microsoft nerd.” Roman said swatting his hand through Logan’s head.

“Logan’s the only reasonable one around here,” Virgil said, movie completely forgotten.

“It’s not my fault he’s such a microsoft turd,” Roman said, sticking out his tongue. This nickname seemed friendly and playful as opposed to the ones that seemed laced with malice earlier.

“Did you just make the same joke twice?” Virgil asked.

“Yes and I can think of a microsoft third,” Roman said, pompously, “Oh wait, I just did”

“Pardon, but what is microsoft?” Logan asked, “Is it another one of the contemporary slang words?”

“Yeah I have no clue what that is either, kiddos.” Patton said.

“You guys seriously have no clue what microsoft is?” Virgil asked, incredulously.

“Well considering I’m from the late 1800s and Patton is older than me, and the fact that ‘microsoft’ this is obviously modern, yes, I have no clue.”

“It’s this massive corporation that makes computers and stuff.” Thomas said. Logan’s face brightened.

“Do you happen to have a computer?” He asked, “I’ve been figuratively dying to figure out how it works.”

“I do, but the way you’re talking about it, it sounds like you want to take it apart or something,” Thomas said.

“I want to, to understand the inner workings of the device,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses, “However, I wouldn’t disable the device unless you gave me your express permission to.”

“Maybe I could buy you a cheap one to mess around with,” Thomas murmured.

“That would be… exciting,” Logan said. Today had been the most emotion Thomas had ever seen out of Logan. Thomas' stomach growled again and he surmised that he wasn’t having any dinner at this point and that Roman’s popcorn could tide him over until the morning.

“Oh yeah,” Thomas remembered, “Do any of you guys know what either ‘gut-foundered’ or ‘chameleon diet’ mean? Damien said them and I had no clue what he was talking about.”

Virgil shot up from the couch, eyes wide, “Damien spoke to you?”

“Yeah. He was super rude.”

“Sounds like Damien.”

“As a possible answer to your question is prior to 1770, it was a common misconception that chameleons ate air because of how little they moved.” Logan explained, “Having a chameleon diet is to skip a meal or two.”

“And everyone knows that gut-foundered means super hungry!” Patton said.

“Uh, I didn’t know that.” Virgil said.

“Neither did I, Padre,” Roman said.

“You youngins and not knowing basic slang words.” Patton said. Thomas, Roman, and Virgil all exchanged looks before bursting out laughing.

When they calmed down, Roman glanced at the tv and looked scandalised. “We forgot the movie!” Roman wailed. Their attention was pulled to the screen and they were met with the credits rolling, “We’re going to rewind to where we left off and rewatch it.”

“Um, did everybody seem to forget that Damien talked to Thomas?” Virgil asked.

“It would be quite difficult to forget a statement that was said less than five minutes ago, as short term memo-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. The question was rhetorical.” Virgil said, growing agitated.

“What did Damien say to you?” Roman asked, “Specifically.”

“The entire conversation was him being very standoffish and rude.” Thomas said, “And he told me to leave you guys the hell alone.”

Virgil groaned, “I told him that being rude wouldn’t get him anywhere, but then he told me that flattery only really works on Roman.”

“I came here to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.” Roman said in mock sincerity.

“You’re right though, Virgil.” Patton said, “After all, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

“So now I’m being compared to a fly?” Roman groaned, “Worst movie night ever.”

“So what did you say to him after he told you to get the… heck out?” Patton said, censoring the word.

“I told him that I couldn’t because I don’t have enough money to buy a new house.” Thomas said, truthfully, "Also, doe any of you know what caused his scar?"

"No one does," Virgil said, "He always makes up rediculous stories about how he got it."

"He once told me that he saw bigfoot and then died in an avalanche," Patton said, "And another time he told me _the_ George Washington burned him at the stake."

"He tells those tall tales to anyone who asks." Roman said.

"But seriously, I cannot believe that even after I warned him that being impolite wouldn't work he still was." Virgil said, rubbing his temples.

“Thomas,” Logan said, “Overall, I believe you handled that situation quite well.”

“Thanks, Logan,” Thomas said, “I think I’m going to go to bed. Today has been long.”

“Sure, kiddo,” Patotn said, understandingly.

“Oh, and Logan?” Thomas said, “I was thinking of inviting Talyn and Joan over tomorrow to test if they can see you guys. I’ve suddenly developed a lack of care towards what Damien thinks of that plan.” And with that, Thomas went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you couldn't tell, info dumping Roman's(and by extension Remus') backstory is a specialty of mine. Highkey want to hear people's theories on how Damien died, because that one's going to be a doozy for Thomas to figure out, but I'd love to hear theories on all the other's also!  
> You can find my tumblr at @Egregious_Nidus  
> Thanks for reading!


	3. What a Fa-boo-lous Holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmastime and Roman comes up with a fun idea for all the ghosts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!  
> Hope you guys had a good holiday break! Fun fact about this chapter: I put all the names through a random secret santa generator and went from there so I really had no solid plan of who would get who as a fun writing challenge for myself.  
> Another fun fact: This was meant to be only a short interlude or noncanon christmas episode and then I was like "Eh, why not introduce Remus and make it canon?" So it is!  
> As usual, kudos and comments are never expected and always appreciated!  
> TW for this chapter: Scars, bear traps, mild swearing, and I think that's it!  
> If I forget any don't hesitate to mention any in the comments that I may have missed!

It was getting to be around christmas time and Thomas had a dilemma. He had already bought everyone in his family, plus some friends presents and he was wondering if he should get the ghosts presents or not. As seen previously, they can interact with real life objects and they could benefit from Thomas getting them presents but if he got Roman, Logan, Patton, and Virgil presents, he’d feel guilty for not getting the other two presents no matter how rude they may be.

Also, the ghost didn’t really strike him as holiday people so it came as quite a shock when he came home to all the ghosts, except Remus, who he had yet to interact with, in the foyer, decorating a tree. The fireplace was lit and the smell of pine wafted through the apartment. Patton was going through a box of ornaments, picking out the ones he wanted to put on. He found one with a cat and a dog painted on it and he smiled gently, placing it carefully on the tree. Roman was hanging up stockings, each one made specifically for each ghost evidently, with Patton’s being light blue with hearts and dogs on it, Logan’s being dark blue with electrical appliances on it, Roman’s red with the twin masks for theatre, Damien’s yellow with the ‘don’t tread on me’ snakes on the front, Virgil’s purple with a stormcloud and a green one, seemingly belonging to Remus with a squid on it. Logan was untangling the tree lights and plugging them in. Virgil was blasting christmas music from his ipod while he and Roman begrudgingly dueted in ‘Baby It's Cold Outside’, though Roman strangely looked wistfully at Damien who was surprisingly in on the christmas shenanigans, gently putting tinsel on the branches.

“Hey, guys!” Thomas said, uneasy at why it was so civil and lighthearted. Virgil paused the music and waved at him.

“Hello, Thomas,” Damien smiled… or grimaced, Thomas couldn’t tell with the jarring lip deformity, “Don’t worry, I won’t bite. Not during the holiday season, anyway.”

“It’s the Great Holiday Truce!” Roman said, “The one time a year nobody fights and everybody is happy.”

“It’s the gayest time of year, and we try to make it that way,” Logan said, completely serious. Roman, Virgil and Thomas just stared at him until Logan frowned, “Oh goodness is this one of those contemporary slang words?”

“Logan, I told you already what this means.” Virgil said, blushing. Logan pulled out a notebook and started to flip through it.

“Ah, I see it means when a man loves another man.” Logan said, “Well then, I guess my statement still stands.” Virgil snorted and pressed play on the playlist again, letting Mariah Carey’s melodic voice grace the halls of the house.

Thomas sidled up next to Patton, “What was that about?”

“Since it’s the one time of year we all get along, some of us tend to… oh gosh I don’t know the right word for it.”

“I believe the word you are looking for is pine,” A new voice from behind them said, “Ugh Roman and Virgil are such buzzkills this time of year because they spend the entire time talking to Damien and Logan.” The man attached to the voice in question was an almost dirtier Roman, with his hair mussed up, baggy t-shirt and ripped jeans. The most stark thing about him wasn’t that he was glowing green, it was how… well ghostly he looked. All the others looked put together, but this man was incredibly skinny, pale, and his face was incredibly gaunt. His smile looked a little unhinged as he stuck out his hand and said, “I’m Remus. You’re Thomas and I’ve heard all about you from Damien.”

Thomas took his hand, surprisingly as he was sure it’d pass right through, “Nice to meet you, Remus.” Patton had uncomfortably edged away from the conversation and into Virgil and Logan’s, leaving Thomas with Remus. Thomas wished he could join him.

“I’m sure none of the others have told you how they died, huh?” Remus asked.

Thomas was shocked, “They haven’t, but to be fair, I haven’t asked them.”

“Yeah, well most are pretty easy to get.” Remus lowered his voice conspiratorial, “Except Damien. I’ve been pestering him about if for years and every time it’s a different answer. None of them make any sense though. Do you wanna know how I died?”

“Well I wouldn’t want to pry.” Thomas said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ok so basically I died beca-”

“Thomas!” Roman said, interrupting. Thomas knew there weren’t a lot of similarities between the two siblings, but the two things Thomas had learned they had in common was giving unwanted information and butting into others conversations. Roman continued, “I was wondering if you might aid me in a kind of secret project I’ve been working on.”

“Oh?” Remus said, “What secret project? I could probably help you know. For example, I once had a secret project where I-”

“Nope!” Roman stopped Remus, “I know what you were going to say and trust me it’s nothing like the ostrich incident, okay?” Roman led Thomas to the kitchen, where nobody was listening.

“Ostrich incident?” Thomas smiled and lifted an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story that we will not get into today.” Roman said, “Anyways I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but now that I actually have somebody who can, you know buy stuff for us, I was wondering if you’d help me with this idea…” Roman outlined the idea and Thomas agreed to it. A half an hour later, they emerged from the kitchen with a bowl full of slips of paper. Everyone looked over intrigued.

“Since it’s our first christmas with Thomas, I figured we’d do something special.” Damien rolled his eyes, but didn’t interrupt Roman, which was a definite sign he didn't hate the red ghost, “Everybody’s name is in the hat, including Thomas’. Each of us picks a slip of paper randomly and whoever’s name they get, they have to buy them a present.”

“Question.” Virigl raised his hand, “Who’s going to buy the presents, considering, uh I don’t know, we’re dead?”

“I was going to get to that emo nightmare,” Roman said, “Thomas is giving us a budget of $30 each to buy the other a present with his amazon account.”

Virgil turned to face Thomas, “Are you absolutely sure you want to spend that much money on us? What if you need it down the line and we wasted it?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Thomas said, “It’s okay by me if it means giving. It is that time of year.”

“Pardon me asking, but what’s an amazon account?” Logan asked and Patton nodded in agreement.

“It’s a cool online shopping website that basically has everything you’d need as a present.” Thomas explained.

“Intriguing.” Logan said, adjusting his glasses, greedy for a chance to use the computer.

Roman held out the bowl in front of Damien’s face as an invitation to take one of the slips of paper. Roman smiled and Damien sighed and dug his hand into the bowl. He pulled out a slip of paper and moved towards a wall and opened the slip of paper. His face didn’t change in the slightest and Thomas made a mental reminder to never play poker with the man.

“Remember,” Thomas said, as Roman kept handing out papers, “If you get your own name, put it back in the bowl.”

“I got my own,” Patton said, returning the slip of paper back into the bowl and redrawing. His face turned to one of glee when he saw the name he got and he nodded at Roman to signify that he hadn’t gotten his name again. Roman finished his rounds and there were two slips of paper left. Roman picked one out, checked that it wasn’t his own name, then promptly gave the bowl to Thomas, where a single paper remained. He picked it up and unfolded it. On the piece of paper said, “ _Patton_ ” and Thomas was glad he had gotten Patton and not Damien or Remus because he’d have no clue what to get them.

“Everybody knows who they have, right?” Thomas asked. Everyone nodded so Thomas continued, “Alright now everybody throw their slips in the fire so we don’t accidentally reveal who we have.”

“And!” Roman said, “Since half us us don’t know what or how the internet works, Thomas will be actually buying the presents, you just tell him what you want to get.”

“So Thomas will know who everybody gets?” Virgil asked, “Doesn’t that kind of defeat the point?”

“You don’t need to tell him who you’re getting it for,” Logan said, “You just need to show him what you want to get.”

“Assuming that the gift is under thirty dollars,” Thomas added, “Just come to me within the next three days and we’ll figure something out.”

Meanwhile, Thomas needed to find out what Patton liked and he had to do it fast. He could just go the easy route and get Patton some sort of mug or other cop-out, but Thomas wanted to get something meaningful. After the talk was over, everyone retired to their rooms, except Patton who was practically glowing with excitement, or as Logan would say, he was literally glowing blue.

“What’s up, Pat?”

“I wanna order my thing.”

“Already? Don’t you want to take more time to think about it first?”

“Nah I think I’m going to do just fine.” Thomas grabbed his laptop and brought up amazon, clicking on the homepage, “Okay, shoot. What do you want to get him?”

“How’d you know it’s a him, huh?” Patton asked, playfully.

“We’re all guys in this household, Patton.” Thomas said, reciprocating the playfulness.

“It would seem you’re on to who I have,” Patton winked, “But you’ll never guess who it is!”

“Not until you tell me what you want to give him,” Thomas said, laughing.

“Okay so you know those newfangled devices that can play music?” Patton asked, bouncing on the couch.

“Yup!”

“Vi- I mean my secret santa has been dying- oops there I go making puns again,” Patton giggled. Thomas knew at this point that Patton had Virgil and the former continued, “Anyways, he's been dying to get more music on those things, but I’m not sure if you get like a record or maybe a CD? I don’t know.”

“What you want is an itunes gift card.” Thomas said, searching one up, “It lets you buy it for a certain amount of money and however much money you buy it for that's how much money you can spend on the music.”

“Well ring me up a twenty-five dolar one of those, kiddo,” Patton said.

“I was wondering, Pat,” Thomas said, “Why do you call everyone kiddo?”

“Well it started off because I looked much older than Damien, and I had never had kids even though I desperately wanted some.” Patton smiled earnestly and looked up at Thomas, “It was hard being a… what did you guys call it earlier? Gay? Yeah, it was that. It was hard being a gay man in the 1830’s who despeartely wanted kids but didn’t want the woman who came along with them. I wasted my life doing nothing but be lonely. Now that I have you and the others, I can’t help but think of you guys as my… my family.” Thomas smiled and hugged the ghost and surprisingly, he didn’t phase through the older man.

“The way I died is kind of ironic, I think.” Patton said, “I was a veterinarian, you know? University of Philly, graduating class of 1853. They had only just started taking veterinarians seriously and I was grateful to be able to spend my life with animals, who just give you unrequited love. The cats and dogs, especially, they were just so cute! Anyways, I used to take hikes a lot. I still do, but for a different reason now. Back then, I would just do it for the exercise. Now I take a walk up to the top of the hill by the side of the cemetery. You know the one right?” Thomas nodded thinking back to the hill he was talking about. It always struck Thomas as odd to build a cemetery on the edge of a hill. Patton continued, “Now I go up the hill and pick flowers to put on everyone's grave. I think every dead person, ghost or not deserves that. Nobody would do it for me so I figured if not for me than for who?”

“Nobody came to your funeral?” Thomas said, his eyes growing wide with shock.

“Kiddo, I didn’t even have a funeral.” Patton said, “Only one person showed up at the grave and he wasn’t even alive.”

“Damien.”

Patton nodded his smile dropping for the first time the whole day, “He found me there, still wishing that somebody, just one person would come.” He shook his head, “Oh but wait I was telling you how I died. Whoops! Got a little sidetracked there.” The smile returned and Thomas learned a very important thing about Patton. He liked to be a ray of sunshine. Even when talking about his own death, he didn’t want to be pitied.

“So anyways I was talking about taking hikes,” Patton said, “There are signs that say where bear trap were during hunting season but once I heard an awful moaning coming from inside the woods. I was careful not to step on any traps on my way and in the clearing I saw a baby bear with his left leg stuck in the trap. He was howling like mad and my first instinct as a vet was to help it. I knew how bear traps worked because my dad used to make them for other people and within a couple of minutes I freed the cub. I ripped a part of my shirt off and wrapped the bear’s leg up.” He paused for a moment seemingly trying to find the right word, “Then the mama bear came and must’ve made the assumption that I hurt her baby. Next thing I know I’ve got this thing.” He pointed at this scratched up eye and rolled up his sleeves to reveal teeth markings on his arms, “And these. Anyway I died to the thing I didn’t ever want,” He laughed, “A woman.”

“Patton, that’s awful,” Thomas said, putting his arms out in an offer of another hug.

Patton accepted and leaned into the hug but then said, “Now I don’t want you to feel bad for me. I made my decisions in life and what happened isn’t the hunter’s fault and it isn’t the mama bear’s fault and it wasn’t mine. It was just a series of events that happened and that’s it.”

“If you say so, bud.” Thomas said. He looked over at his laptop, which had entered sleep mode and quickly tapped the mouse pad until it woke up again.

He finished ordering the itunes gift card for Virgil, saying his goodnights to Patton, who was by the looks of it going to watch Parks and Rec and then went to sleep.

In the morning he awoke to a distinctly green face directly above his. He jumped up and lucky for him, Remus was a ghost and Thomas sailed right through him. Unlucky for Thomas, when you go through a ghost, you get extremely cold and he was shivering by the time Remus said, “Good morning, Thomathy!”

“Not my name.” Thomas said, rubbing his eyes awake.

“So I know what I’m going to get my person.” Remus said, hopping from foot to foot. He seemed very restless.

“Sure, let me get my laptop,” Thomas said, reaching over the side of his bed. He opened it and it was still on the amazon page he had used with Patton last night.

“Okay so I want to get the book ‘Common Sense’ by Thomas Paine.” Remus said. Thomas had absolutely no clue who this gift was for. Who seemed like they would like that? Maybe Logan? Thomas shrugged and searched it up, finding the cheapest one for six dollars. He hit order and Remus, satisfied, left through the wall. He was shaken by the encounter with the green ghost and it was definitely not the best way to wake up. Thomas walked down the stairs and was immediately greeted by Roman, who not unlike his twin, had a lot of restless energy.

He was fidgeting and walked over to Thomas Roman said, “As much as I’m glad we did the whole secret santa thing, I have no clue what to get mine.”

Thomas smiled, “Same. I’m just glad I didn’t get… never mind. I can’t tell you who I didn’t get or you can figure out who I do have.”

“True, true.” Roman agreed.

“Salutations, Thomas,” Logan greeted him, “I would like to request using the computer and the ‘amazon’ website you talked about.”

“Sure, Logan!” Thomas said, looking around, “Any of you see Patton? He’s usually up today.”

“I already talked to him this morning,” Logan said, “He went out early to take a hike.” Thomas smiled, remembering the conversation he and Patton had last night.

“Cool,” Thomas said, “Shall we then?” Thomas and Logan sat down on the couch.

“I’d like to use the computer, myself.” Logan said. “Sure.” Thomas said, handing the computer over. Like any old person uncostumed to technology, Logan took time to slowly find each letter and click it. He slowly wrote out ‘Famous Broadway Playbills’. When the results loaded, Thomas heard a tiny “Fascinating” out of Logan who clicked on a set that cost twenty-five dollars and added it to the cart. Thomas pointed at what Logan needed to click and he did so happily. Thomas guessed Logan had Roman judging by the choice of present.

“Do you want to use the computer for anything else?” Thomas asked, knowing what the answer would be.

“Actually, yes. Virgil has been telling me about these old ‘flash’ games.” Logan said, putting air quotes over ‘flash’.

Thomas smiled and left to make some breakfast. Usually Patton would make it. He made eggs and went to sit down at the dining table when he saw a certain yellow ghost lurking at the top of the stairs. When Damien saw Thomas he rolled his eyes but came down the stairs.

“I wish to purchase something.” Damien said.

“Sure,” Thomas said, smilling a little, “You’ll have to wait until Logan’s done with the computer, though.”

Damiens nostrils flared, “Fine. Come upstairs and get me when he stops.” He smirks, “Or just send Virgil, I’m sure he’d love to do your dirty work.”

“Like he does yours?” Thomas said.

Damien was silent until he started laughing and with a way too dramatic turn said, “Yes.” Thomas shook his head and frowned. Every time he thought he understood the yellow ghost, he’d get confused again.

He went to make himself some hot cocoa and sat down on the couch, watching some sitcom. “Thomas?” Logan asked after a couple of episodes had passed, “I think I might’ve broken your computer.”

“What?” Thomas shouted, running over. He found Logan staring confused at a dark screen. Thomas pressed the on/off button twice and it didn’t do anything.

“What did you press before it went dark?” Thomas asked, slightly panicking. Logan pointed to a button with a sun icon and a minus and Thomas sighed in relief. He pressed the brightness up button and the screen immediately lit back up.

“How did you do that?” Logan asked. “You pressed the brightness down button.”

Thomas said pointing to said button, “I pressed the brightness up button.”

“Ah,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses. He looked sheepish, “I believe that’s enough computer for me today. I almost figuratively had a heart attack when I thought I broke it.”

Thomas smiled and picked up the computer. He didn’t want to, but he _did_ promise Damien he’d let him order the gift. He was not looking forward to going into the creepy attic space. He ventured up there with caution. On his way he almost bumped into Virgil, who phased into the wall to avoid going through him.

“Why’d you go through the wall?” Thomas asked, snickering at Virgil’s deer in the headlights expression from a moment before, “You wouldn’t have hit me.”

“It was a knee-jerk reaction,” Virgil said, blushing with embarrassment, “um, I actually wanted to ask you for the computer.”

“You’re not the first one.” Thomas said, handing his computer over to Virgil. When he saw that the ghost wasn’t going to let it drop through his hand, he let it go. Virgil opened it, typed something quickly, typed some things and then closed the computer.

“Thanks,” Virgil said, “What brings you to this place anyways? Doesn’t it seem a little too close to a certain someone for comfort?”

“Actually that someone asked me to come up here so he could order his present.” Thomas said.

Virgil scrunched up his nose, “Be careful, alright?”

“Don’t worry, Virge, It’ll be fine.” Thomas said, walking towards the steps he had not gone up once since he first moved in. When he made it to the top of the stairs he was met with stark contrasts between three sections of the massive space, all separated by thick black lines. The first and closest to the stairs was a room decorated with cobwebs and an old tv with stacks upon stacks of disney VHS tapes. There also was a small mirror in the corner that looked pretty unused. The second closest was filled with a seemingly random assortment of items including but not limited to, a corner of stacked deodorant sticks, a poster with some random 80’s actor that Thomas had never heard of before, and a bookshelf filled with serial killer and true crime series. The last one was the most dimly lit one, with another bookshelf, this one filled with books about history, philosophy, and psychology. It had a big desk, with random books opened on it. There was a lamp and above the desk, hanging on a wall was a tattered old uniform of sorts and a rifle with a bayonet. Behind the desk was a chair with a man sitting in it. Of course, this man was Damien who seemed to be reading something intently, as he apparently had not yet noticed Thomas.

“Uh,” Thomas said, trying to get the man’s attention. Damien looked up with mild disinterest, though he closed the book he was reading and put it to the side. The book’s title was “Critique of Pure Reason” by Emmanuel Kant.

Thomas decided to be friendly to Damien and said, “I’m more of a Hume guy myself.”

“Hume?” Damien asked, “Don’t make me laugh. He was a C grade philosopher at best. His ideas were too idealistic and childish.”

“Well Kant’s are extremely radical and morally awful when you put his work into real life situations.” Thomas retorted.

“Are you here for something?” Damien asked, obviously already bored from the debate.

“Uh, yes? I’m here to order your present.”

“A present for me? Aww how sweet of you. No thank you, I really don’t need one.” The yellow ghost’s face was completely still and for a second, Thomas thought that he was genuine until he saw a ghost of a smirk on Damien’s lips and realised he was just pulling his leg.

“C’mon Damien, let’s just get this over with.” Thomas grumbled.

“You are really no fun, you know that?” He rolled his eyes but beckoned Thomas over. When Thomas opened the computer it was an order confirmation for some sort of camcorder. Virgil must’ve forgotten to click the ‘confirm’ button.

Damien said, “I’d like to order a… I believe they’re called ‘stuffed animals’?” He put the words in air quotes.

Thomas nodded, “Do you have an animal specifically or-”

“An octopus.”

“Alrighty then.” Thomas found a bunch of octopus plushies to choose from and Damien settled on a green and black one. After hitting the confirm button, Thomas could not make it out of the room faster. He walked down the stairs and did a mental tally in his head. Only he and Roman hadn’t ordered anything yet. Thomas went to his room and wrote a list of possible ideas. After some deliberation he decided nothing was good enough and went outside to go make dinner. As soon as he opened the door he came face to face with Roman.

“I’d like for you to assist me in ordering my gift!” Roman said, smilling and bouncing from foot to foot, “It took some careful decision making but I think it’s perfect!”

“Sure, what is it?” Thomas asked.

“I was talking to Virgil, who knows a lot about modern technology and he mentioned a cheap mini computer,” Roman said, “It’s called a ‘Raspberry Pi' and it costs thirty-five dollars, but I think he’d really like it so is it okay if I go over by a little?”

“It’s fine, Roman no worries,” Thomas said. So now he knew that Roman probably had Logan. After making the order, Roman went through a wall to get to his room, which Thomas would never get used to seeing and he went down to the kitchen, only to find Patton baking cookies. Thomas was hit with a wave of guilt that he couldn’t find a good enough gift for the kind man.

“That smells great, Pat” Thomas said, watching as Patton hand mixed the batter. “Kiddo, can you mix this? My arms are killing me. I’m not as strong as I used to be, believe it or not.” Patton said passing the bowl over and finally took his eyes off the kitchen to meet Thomas’.

“Aw, kiddo. What's the _batter_ with you?” He took a glob of icing from another bowl and put it on Thomas’ nose.

Thomas chuckled before saying, “Ah, nothing.”

“Are you sure?” Patton asked, “Because you can always talk to me kiddo. I’m an eggcellent listener!”

Groaning at the bad pun, Thomas handed the bowl over to Patton now fully mixed. He was in a much better mood now, though. Patton always had a way of doing that, just instantly making you feel safe and at home. And that’s when Thomas realised it. He knew the perfect gift to get the blue ghost. Racing upstairs he put the order in: a multi-purpose hand mixer for all kinds of food. Thomas would often recall the rare couple of times Patton ever complained about something and his sore arms were almost always at the forefront of it. Grinning like a madman, Thomas closed the computer and relaxed.

The next couple of days passed in a blur, with Thomas hanging out with friends and family alike and exchange holiday greetings, but the day was finally upon them. Thomas had taken the time to wrap each of the ghost’s gifts for them and deliver it to the giver. The morning was filled with the smell of cinnamon and pine, as Thomas had bought some nice Christmas candles. Every ghost had put their presents under the tree.

Patton went under and handed each out, looking at the labels. Thomas was right about some of them, like Virgil’s gift being the itunes giftcard from Patton, Logan’s gift being the raspberry pi from Roman, and that Roman’s gift being the playbills from Logan. Damien and Remus had gotten each other, with Damien getting the copy of “Common Sense” and Remus getting the plushie octopus. It turns out that Virgil had gotten Thomas, but Virgil seemed scared to give it to him, as if he was unsure that he’d like it. After a moment more of deliberation, Virgil gave him the present which turned out to be the camcorder.

“Thanks, Virgi!” Thomas said.

“You… don’t hate it?” Virgil asked cautiously.

“Of course not!” Thomas said, “It seems really cool.”

“Yeah, uh, I noticed you’d take videos of yourself on your phone sometimes and I figured maybe you would want to try it with a better camera.” Virgil said, slowly becoming less tense. Thomas smiled at him, eager to try the new camera out.

He finally went over to the tree and got his present to Patton. He handed it over and Patton excitedly opened it.

“Do you like it?” Thomas asked.

“Oh kiddo, I don’t like it,” Patton said, and Thomas’ face fell, “I love it!”

Thomas released a breath of air he didn’t know he was holding and smiled, “You can’t do that to me, Pat! I was going to have a heart attack!”

Patton giggled, “You batter believe that I’m going to make the best darn food you’ve ever seen using this thing.”

“I’m sure you will.” Thomas said, a smile on his face. Christmas day was peaceful, with Damien reading his new literature near the fireplace, Patton cooking, Virgil listening to the new music he bought, Roman decorating his room with the playbills, Logan messing around with the programing of the mini computer, and Remus was nowhere to be seen. It was the first time he felt relaxed in a long time.

The next day he had to go to work, as most people do and when he got home he was walking down the hallway when a leg tripped him. He looked up to see the smirking face of Damien who simply said, “The truce is over, bitch”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry guys, my new year resolution is to update more frequently and to set more strict deadlines on myself, so y'all should be getting another new chapter soon. Comments and Kudos make my day, so thank you guys for leaving so many!  
> See y'all next time!


	4. I Don't Know What I'm Booing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas wakes up feeling more anxious than usual and tries to find the source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all!  
> I hope you guys are thriving(or at least getting some much needed r and r) during this coronavirus pandemic. If you are affected by it, I send you virtual hugs. Since I have a heck of a lot more free time, I'll be writing a lot more, so expect more frequent updates!  
> Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of suicide and anxiety attacks. If I miss any, don't hesitate to tell me!

Thomas wasn’t entirely sure why he felt so weird this morning. It started as always, with him doing his normal morning routine and eating whatever Patton made him, this time, an omelet. He still had this uneasy pit in his stomach that something was wrong. Patton had a furrowed brow and was scrubbing way harder than he needed to, giving Thomas the impression, that yes, something was in fact, wrong.

“Hey Pat?” Thomas asked, and the blue ghost stopped his furious scrubbing to look up at him.

“What’s up, kiddo?”

“Does something feel off about today?”

“Yeah but that’s normal. It’s just Virgil.”

“Huh?”

“Oh right, you don’t know. When Virgil’s having a down day, he projects it on to anybody in his vicinity. Generally we leave him alone when he gets like this, the poor kiddo doesn’t like being barged in on.”

“He can just do that?” Thomas asked, the pit in his stomach sinking, “Can you all do that too? Should I be worried?” He started to breathe quicker. _What if Damien were to do something with this power? What if all of them were secretly evil and using this to make him trust them? What if Patton wasn’t as nice as he seemed to be and just wanted Thomas to trust him so he could kill him once and for all? What if-_

“Kiddo, you have to calm down.” Patton said, walking over to Thomas slowly. Thomas recoiled from the blue ghost and Patton nodded and said, “Ok, no touching, look” Patton raised his hands so Thomas could see they were away from him.

“Just breathe in with me for four, hold for seven, out for eight.” Thomas slowly nodded and did the breathing exercise with Patton. His head cleared, and while the pit in his stomach didn’t fully go away he stopped thinking that the ghosts would kill him. Ok, maybe Remus or Damien would but he knew that Virgil, Logan, Roman, and Patton wouldn’t. He still felt on edge.

“Sorry, kiddo, I should have warned you, when this happens you’re more prone to panic attacks.” Patton said, looking truly upset at the turn of events, “The best thing I think you should do is get out of the house. There’s a range to Virge’s moods and if you get out of them, you should feel better. Do you have work today?” Thomas shook his head. Patton nodded his head and said, “I’ll go on a hike with you and invite the others, how does that sound?”

“Sounds okay to me, Pat.” Thomas said with a weak smile. While Patton went to ask the others if they wanted to come with, Thomas finished up his breakfast. His thoughts kept returning to the purple ghost emitting the anxious feeling. Thomas knew Virgil to be an already anxious man, but it’s never been so bad that Thomas could feel it.

“Hello Thomas,” Logan said behind him and Thomas jumped up.

“Don’t scare me like that, Lo!” He said, putting up a shaky smile.

“Apologies, I know everyone is slightly on edge.”

“Slightly? Sir spooks a lot is killing the mood everywhere” Roman groaned, walking through a wall. His hair was all messed up and he had bags under his eyes. Considering the ghost didn’t have to sleep, Thomas assumed the heavy bags were a result of Virgil's power. He examined Logan closer and noticed that the teacherly figure’s tie was crooked and he, too had bags under his eyes.

“It’s not Virgil’s fault, Roman, you know that” Patton chided, following Roman through the wall.

“Well this hike will surely improve our moods.” Logan said.

“You could say it would,” Patton started.

“Don’t you dare.” Logan said, glaring at Patton.

“Lift our spirits.” Patton said, giggling, “Get it? Spirits? Because we’re ghosts?”

“We get it.” Thomas, Roman, and Logan said in unison, Logan in particular being louder than the usual calm voice. Another result of the oppressive atmosphere in the house at the moment, Thomas noted.

They headed out the door and almost immediately after leaving through the front door, the pit in Thomas’ stomach got worse. It felt like anxiety, sure, but it also felt like paranoia, sadness, and distrust. He felt like something was tightening around his throat for the second time today. His brain supplied him with the marks on Virgil’s throat, but at this point Thomas was too panicked to do anything with the thought.

“It’s because Virgil’s room is so close to the front door,” Logan explained, taking Thomas’ shoulder and directing Thomas away from the source, and Thomas almost wanted to resist, his brian convincing him that _maybe Logan is wrong and maybe he’s bringing you to a place where there are spiders, or somebody waiting to kill you ro maybe they’ll lead you to the middle of the forest and leave you to starve and die._ “It gets worse the closer you are to him.”

Thomas shrugged Logan's hand off of him and walked so fast away from the source of the feeling, he was practically running. Once they had made it steadily away from the door, and Thomas’ anxiety was lessening by the second, he turned to Logan and said,

“Sorry about shrugging you off, I-”

“It’s fine, Thomas, it’s a product of Virgil’s aura,” Logan said, giving a pointed look back at the house. Thomas couldn’t help but wonder if what he felt was just a byproduct of what Virgil was actually feeling, how bad was it for the purple ghost? He decided to alleviate one of his fears from earlier, “Can any of you guys do what Virgil can do, where you can radiate your mood or whatever?”

“I can!” Patton said, “But only when I’m in a good mood, like during the holidays. That’s what Damien tends to be more lax during that time. I think my aura appeases him?”

“Padre, I don’t think even your aura could make that grouch happy.” Roman said.

“What about the rest of you? Do you guys have any cool ghosty powers I should be aware of?” Thomas asked, the anxiety from the morning fully gone. They had started on the trail behind the cemetery, the house out of sight, but not out of mind.

“I can, rather stereotypically, I might add,” Logan said, rolling his eyes, “Make objects float when I want to. Although the heavier the object, the harder it is to make it float, though you’d probably assume that because of physics and such.” Logan sighed, “As a man of science I tried to study the phenomenon but could not find anything on what sort of force was propelling them to my command. It was frustrating, to say the least.”

Thomas hummed in agreement and Roman said, all full of vigor, “I, too, have a cliche ghostly power.”

“I think Roman’s is the most movie-like one out of all of us,” Patton said, with a small smile.

“Ugh I hate being cliche.” Roman groaned, “I like being original, not a copy and pasted ghost trope.”

“Well, what can you do?” Thomas said.

“Like in every ghost story or movie,” Roman heaved a very over-dramatic sigh, “I can possess people.”

“You’re right that is cliche” Thomas said, trying to nudge and then going right through Roman’s arm. Thomas tripped and fell and then he and Roman started laughing. Logan helped Thomas up and they walked in a cmfortable silence.

Thomas pondered on the events of the day. He was sure, under Virgil’s influence, if he had found out about the other ghost’s powers, he would have freaked out and distrusted him, but he was away from the dark atmosphere of the house and he knew that they wouldn’t intentionally hurt him. And then he thought back to what he felt when closest to the purple ghost’s room. He remembered the feeling of strangulation and the tightness around his throat. It seems obvious now that Virgil was either strangled to death, or… or he hanged himself. Either way, Thomas couldn’t help but feel sorry for Virgil. His thoughts trailed off to the present.

The leaves crunched as they walked. The winter weather was really cold, but it was coming at the time where all the leaves finally died and it started getting just warm enough to put on a light coat instead of a jacket. Thomas looked around at the ghosts walking with him. Well, Roman and Logan were walking, Patton was skipping ahead and then waiting for them. Pattons furrowed brow and concentrated expression was gone, and now had an expression of glee. He truly did love the outdoors. The bags under Roman’s eyes were gone and at some point he ruffled his hair into it’s normal swept over state. He seemed just as energetic as Patton, sometimes taking the time to do a cartwheel when the ground permitted it. Logan seemed perfectly content to walk peacefully and observe the two. Like Roman, his bags disappeared and he righted his tie. Logan would stop every once in a while to point out a mushroom or tree that he found interesting.

“What about Damien or Remus?” Thomas asked suddenly. At the mention of his brother’s name, Roman’s face grew sullen.

“I’m not entirely sure Remus can do anything of the sort.” Roman said, “At least, he’s never confided in me or displayed anything to show to the contrary.”

“And Damien will be Damien,” Patton said, “He’ll never tell anybody if he could or couldn’t do anything. He’s as hard to read as a weird Russian book that you found in your floorboards, that probably belonged to your old tenants who might’ve been Russian, but you honestly can’t remember because they sold you the house like 5 months ago and you have the memory of a goldfish and at the time the library had no Russian-American dictionary and you had no friends that spoke Russian so you would forever be in the dark about that weird Russian book.”

“That was… oddly specific,” Logan said and Thomas snorted.

“So how often does Virgil do… that?” Thomas asked, looking to change the subject from what would have been a long patented Patton rant.

“When he first… kicked the bucket, so to speak, it happened rather often.” Logan said.

“It was awful!” Roman wailed, kicking the leaves rather dramatically, “We were all depressed for weeks because of that stormcloud. It was thanks to patty cake that he stopped being such a downer.”

“I just had a little chat with him, was all.” Patton said, “He needed a support pillar after dying, I mean, who doesn’t?” Patton lowered his voice, “Between you and me, I think that’s why Damien is such a finicky guy. He was apparently the first of us and he didn’t have anybody to talk to or confide in. But when it came to Virgil, nobody would talk to him but me and Damien.”

“Damien and I” Logan corrected.

“Wait, Damien talked to Virgil?” Thomas asked, “He doesn’t exactly strike me as the feelsy type.”

“He’s not.” Roman said, “He always leaves the house when Virgil’s like this. He just wanted to get Virgil on his team.”

“And it worked, I guess?” Patton said, “But Damien didn’t go in to make Virgil feel better and he kept making everybody feel awful and I kept stress cleaning and ugh at the same time the tenants before you moved in. After spending a week with the tenants screaming at every shadow a lamp cast, or them yelling at each other over tiny things or… or even listening to them have panic attacks it was too much. I went into Virgil's room and had a long chat with him and somehow it worked?”

“It definitely did, as the aura started happening weekly and then bi-weekly and then monthly.” Logan said, “It now only happens once or twice a year, but there's always one-”

“In the winter, yeah” Roman said, “Always in the winter with this guy.”

“At least he’s punctual?” Thomas said, grinning.

“I was going to say it’s always during February.” Logan said. “I wonder the significance of the date.” Patton said.

“Well that’s rather obvious,” Roman said, “It’s gotta be the day he died or something.”

“He did show up around this time period.” Patton mused, “Usually Damien finds the ghosts and brings them back to the house but he happened to show up the day I went out for my hike. I offered for him to come with me back to the house but he didn't want to. A couple of days later he sorta… wandered home? He said he was bored of waiting around or something.” Logan looked very pensive and had the hint of a smile on his lips. Something told Thomas that Virgil didn’t just happen to wander back and that Logan had something to do with it.

“Yeah and most of the time I wish he didn’t” Roman grumbled.

The comment left the group in an uneasy silence as they continued the walk. They were reaching towards the end of the trail that led straight back into his house. When they got close enough to the house, Thomas braced himself, ready for the sense of dread that had pervaded the atmosphere of the house earlier. They all seemed to be bracing themselves for what was to come. They stepped closer to the house and eventually entered but there was nothing. Thomas let out a relieved chuckle and so did Patton.

Roman asked, “So did frowny get over himself or did he leave the house?”

“‘Frowny’ can hear you, you know.” Virgil said, yelling from the living room. Thomas navigated through the house to that room, and found Virgil, headphones on and knitting.

“You knit?” Thomas asked.

Virgil seemed to recoil reflexively, and asked, “So?” He took his headphones off quickly and was almost glaring at Thomas. He seemed much jumpier than usual, but Thomas figured it was better than earlier.

“No problem here, man” he said, “Honestly I think being able to knit is pretty cool, it looks way too complicated for me.”

“It’s not that hard,” the purple ghost mumbled, putting his headphones on and relaxing again.

“Thomas, help me with dinner?” Patton yelled, poking his head out of the kitchen.

“Sure, Pat.” Thomas said, looking back at Virgil who was thoroughly engrossed in his knitting. He left to go to the kitchen and Patton pulled Thomas into the kitchen, and handed him a large bowl with some ground beef in it.

“Wash your hands and then start making those into balls. Put them on the wax paper.” Patton pointed at a nicely lined tray of wax paper. Patton got closer to Thomas and whispered, “The kiddo probably needs to be left alone right now.” and gave a look in Virgil's direction.

Thomas nodded and went to work, with Patton giving him instructions and pointers. By the time they were done, they had made enough spaghetti and meatballs to last Thomas the rest of the week. None of the ghosts could eat as far as Thomas knew, so when Patton made big dishes, he had a ton of leftovers. Thomas went to eat his dinner, and as he was sitting down he saw Logan and Virgil sitting close to each other, Logan writing something and Virgil still knitting. Virgil seemed way more relaxed with Logan than he did with Thomas. He went to bed easily. Between the emotional turmoil of the day and the long hike, he was exhausted.

* * *

When Virgil woke up, he wanted to scream. He was _so_ sure it would work. He was so sure he was supposed to die and then he wouldn’t have to be kicked out of foster care. Despite how much he hated the place, it would be infinitely worse being homeless. The plan was so simple, the day you turn 18, kill yourself. His head was really fuzzy and nothing made sense. Thing was, he was fairly sure he had done it. He could almost still feel the rope tightening. He decided to get a hold of his bearings. He was in a graveyard for some reason. Virgil looked around and then he _actually_ screamed.

The grave in front of his read “ _Rest in Peace. Virgil Hudson. 1986-2003_ ” Virgil uncertainly looked at himself, dreading what he’d see. He was faintly translucent and was significantly more purple than before. _It has to be a bad dream. This all has to be a big bad dream and I’ll wake up in foster care,_ he thought. He tried pinching himself, slapping himself, and any other thing he could remember could wake you up from a bad dream. He felt the feeling frustration and helplessness build up, feelings he was not too unused to.

At this point he didn’t think he was dreaming but he was too confused and upset to care anymore. He wanted to scream again, but what good would it do? Virgil reached in his pockets, seeing if he had anything to work with. He found his ipod and earbuds in his pocket. Virgil always carried them with him because you never know if somebody might want to steal them or if they would get confiscated or… he guesses it doesn’t matter anymore if he really _is_ dead. Virgil didn’t know how long he sat there, just listening to his meager 15 songs on repeat, a minor comfort to distract him. It always worked before, why wouldn't it work now? It brought his thoughts back to the time he saved up one summer to buy an itunes gift card and spent it all on disney songs and some My Chemical Romance songs too. An odd mix to play on repeat but Virgil didn’t mind.

Eventually a woman and man came to a grave near him. They seemed to droop and grow more sad the closer they got to the grave, and Virgil wondered if anybody cared that he was dead. _Maybe the kids I used to read the fairytales to_ , he mused. He stood up and decided to ask for help. If they saw him, they didn’t acknowledge him and the closer he got to them, the more the woman began to sob and the man’s breathing sped up. _What if they won’t see me? What do I do then?_ Virgil’s thoughts turned frantic. At this point it was hopeless to try to calm himself down.

“Hello?” Virgil said, holding his breath. Nothing. No reaction. Virgil’s stomach dropped, and he finally let himself cry. Another man was approaching where he was, but Virgil didn’t even try to interact with the man, moving over to the side and burying his head in his hoodie.

“You okay there, kiddo?” a voice asked. Virgil’s head shot up to meet the man he saw earlier. What Virgil had failed to notice earlier was starkly apparent, the man was translucent and had a bluish tint to him.

“Y-you can see me?” Virgil, trying not to sound as pathetic as he felt. Despite the fact that he was relieved that somebody could talk to him, Virgil distrusted him immediately, “And don’t call me ‘kiddo.’ I’m not five” He actually didn’t like ‘kiddo’ because it reminded him too much and too suddenly of his old foster home.

“What’s your name ki-, I mean uh..” The man said, flushing at his mistake.

“Virgil.”

“I’m Patton Murphy!” Patton said, smiling.

“So, Patton, can you please explain what’s happening here?” Virgil asked, not returning the smile. He tried not to make his voice sound _that_ bitter, but after all that had happened it was hard.

“Uh, so, you’re dead!” Patton said, “But, before you freak out, don’t worry, uh… we’re ghosts?” Patton sounded so uneasy.

“How am I not supposed to freak out at that information?” Virgil asked, his anxiety spiking.

Patton winced and his smile faltered, “Honestly, it’s hard to get used to, but, uh we have a house that we use as our space and you’re welcome to come back with me.”

This was too much too fast for Virgil. Before he knew what he was saying he blurted out, “I think I’ll just stay here, thanks.”

Patton’s face fell, but his smile soon fought its way up on his face, “Oh well, okay! It’s your decision. Just know, if you ever want to come to the house, it’s that way.” Patton pointed towards where he came from and then said, “Well… I guess I’ll go now.”

Virgil nodded and watched the blue man walk away the sense of dread settling in his stomach. His thoughts seemed to spiral and he needed something to do to at least keep him from thinking about things too hard. He spent a couple of days wandering the graveyard. Sometimes he’d catch a glimpse of the house and then immediately walk the other way. He didn’t even know why but he felt guilty every time he saw it.

Once he explored every inch of the graveyard, he went back to his grave. There was a morbid curiosity pounding at his brain to look at it. As he was walking over, he saw a faintly glowing blue figure. It wasn’t Patton, however. The man was darker than Patton and had sleeker hair than the frizzy haired light blue ghost. The man was tall and wore a tie. Virgil didn’t want to admit it, but the man was very attractive. Virgil didn’t know whether to talk to the man or run, so he stood there, frozen as the man approached him.

“Salutations.” The man said, “I am Logan Cohen. I’m not going to fib, I’ve heard a bit about you from Patton, but I wanted to know you for myself.”

“You talk like a teacher.” Virgil deadpanned.

“I am, or rather was one. I taught AP Literature” Logan said, “How old are you, Virgil?”

“Eighteen,” Virgil said, “You?”

“Well I died when I was 29, but I’d be about 130 if I were still alive, although I’d have to be a medical wonder to live that long especially if-”

“What do you want?” Virgil asked, apprehensive. His stomach was flipping just thinking about being alive- well not alive, but the thought existing for that long.

“I simply wanted to chat with you.” Logan said. Virgil wasn’t sure what to make of the tall man,so he said nothing. Logan seemed to notice he wasn’t wanted and said, “It was a pleasure talking to you, Virgil” He stuck his hand out to shake, and Virgil flinched away. He cursed internally for not covering it up like he usually did. The dark man noticed Virgil’s discomfort, retracted his hand, and said simply, “I mean you no harm, Virgil, I hope you know that. It is one hundred percent your choice whether you decide you want to come to the house or not. It is nice, however to have a place to stay, and being alone for a while isn’t healthy for people, especially people who recently went through emotional turmoil. And finally, if you feel uncomfortable or just don’t want to stay in the house, nobody will stop you from leaving.”

Virgil wasn’t entirely sure why these words comforted him, when the much more genuine Patton had not. All through Virgil’s life people had lied and hurt him. He’d never met an adult who didn’t keep secrets and didn’t trust those who acted like they didn’t, like Patton. Maybe that’s why he trusted Logan more, as hypocritical as it was to trust someone not entirely open to him. It was this vein that shocked Virgil the most, as he realised he trusted Logan.

“Thanks, Logan,” He said, still unsure of himself. Logan smiled at Virgil, the first time Virgil had seen the man smile and for the first time since dying, Virgil smiled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Comments and Kudos are never expected and always appreciated!  
> If you have any questions about the AU or just wanna chat, my tumblr is @Egregious-nidus  
> See you next time!


	5. Don't Look so Grave!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas learns some new information and Patton is hiding something...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> So sorry for not posting online school had been a pain and finals have finally wrapped up so I basically sat mysef down and forced myself to write this chapter. I'd say expect more frequent updates, but with the state of the world right now, who knows what's going to happen. Also, I decided to keep Deceit's name as Damien, just for the sake of writing consistency. I love the name Janus though, it really fits him.  
> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Mentions of war, death, and mild cursing.  
> If I missed any don't hesitate to tell me!

“Think fast!” Patton yelled from across the room, throwing a pillow at Logan. The pillow stopped in midair and hovered. Patton huffed and grabbed it out of the air.

For the past couple of weeks all of the ghosts have been playing a game where they’d try to hit Logan with Thomas’ various bits of furniture. It had started off fun, with some pillows but quickly devolved into madness the second Remus caught wind of it and threw Thomas’ whole couch at Logan. Luckily, the dark blue ghost was extremely good at the game, catching everything with his mind before it could be smashed to pieces. After that, Thomas had to put his foot down and make some rules to the game, limiting the things they could throw at Logan to pillows. Unfortunately Logan’s telekinesis seemed impenetrable.

When asked about how Logan could catch the various objects he simply said, “I told you before, I’ve practised.”

“I’m going to nail you one day, mister,” Patton said.

“You can try,” Logan said, not even looking up from his crossword. Suddenly another pillow came flying, almost hitting Thomas in the process. Again the pillow stopped in the air but this one was significantly closer to Logan, almost touching the back of his head.

“That’s why you don’t yell ‘think fast’ before you throw, Pat” Virgil said, retrieving his pillow.

“Both attempts were unsuccessful, though,” Logan said, a smug lilt to his voice.

Thomas sighed and went to get ready for the day. Going to his day job was a chore but somebody had to keep the bills coming in. For dead people, the electricity bill the ghosts rack up was not something to laugh at. With a quick, “Don’t wreck my pillows while I’m gone!” Thomas was off.

During a lull point in his work he found himself pondering the duality of his life. The never ending racket the ghosts made compared to his dull job had him restless. He found himself doing some research on the ghosts. He had tried to find information on the ghosts before to no avail, but he was bored so he tried it again. His first search went to Patton. Previously he had found a record of Patton with his vet clinic, “Pawsome Care Point Animal Hospital” so that’s what he started with. He found an old newspaper clipping of an opinion piece from 1852 about the clinic. It read “The thing that sets this clinic apart is it’s astounding customer service. The head veterinarian, Dr. Patton Murphy is extremely personable and compassionate. I highly recommend this establishment.” Thomas smiled at the kind words and marveled at just how long Patton had been dead. A picture of the class of 1834 came up and Thomas could just barely make out Patton’s head amongst the crowd of young faces. Patton looked much more short and youthful. Thomas tried digging further and even going to the next page of google searches to find things but to no avail.

Next he tried Logan. He was way harder to dig stuff up on than Patton because of the sheer amount of Professor Cohens that taught at the university Logan had been hired for. After about 20 minutes of finding nothing he gave up and went on to Roman. He decided not to try Damien, Virgil, and Remus, as they hadn’t divulged anything to him and it felt like a breach of privacy. He didn’t find much except for one news article dating back to 1985 reading “Local Hero Sacrifices Life to Save!” It seemed like a tabloid-like newspaper and only recounted what Thomas already knew about the prince, but he printed it out. Roman would get a kick out of seeing his name under ‘local hero’, Thomas just knew it.

He looked at the clock and found that he still had two hours to go until work was over and he could return to the exciting world that was his own apartment. It took about an hour and all of his self restraint for him to crack and finally search up the three ghosts that eluded him. Thomas was nosey and he knew that but he felt guilty as he searched up Remus’ name. Unfortunately(or fortunately) he didn’t find anything about the green ghost. He searched up Virgil and then felt so bad he immediately stopped looking. The purple ghost hadn’t been the easiest to get along with, sure, but Thomas was sure Virgil wouldn’t want him poking around in his business.

He felt a lot less bad when he put in the search bar ‘Damien D’Ceit’ Thomas learned of the ghost’s last name by accident, as Virgil called him that once.

When Thomas asked if it was a nickname, Virgil snorted and said “Nope, that’s his real last name. It’s french or some shit like that.” The name certainly wasn’t too common as there weren’t too many search results that caught Thomas’ eye. What did catch Thomas’ eye, however, was a Revolutionary War memorial site. He clicked on the tab and found that the site was literally just a catalogue of every man who died during the war. At the very bottom there was a space for the unknown soldiers. Seeing the thousands of names, Thomas experimentally clicked on the first one. It brought him to a separate page that had as much knowledge as possible on the man including date of birth, date of death and cause of death. Thomas clicked back to the previous page and used the find tool and put in Damien’s name. Sure enough, there it was. Thomas thought Damien was lying about the fact that he was alive during the time period. Doing the math in his head that put almost an 80 year gap in between him and Patton dying. Thomas pondered this for a bit. It’s no wonder Damien was so closed off and reserved form the rest, he was alone for extensive periods of time. That much can mess with anybody. He cautiously clicked on the ghost’s name to see what information this website had on him. He was met with the same layout as the previous man he had selected except where all the information was for the other man there was just “Unknown” Disappointed with this lack of information Thomas closed his tabs and sighed. He was just left with more questions.

When the work day was finally over, Thomas left hastily to get back to the life he was longing for all afternoon. When he walked in the house however, he was met with brisk silence.

“Hey guys?” Thomas said, concerned, “I’m home!”

There were a painful couple of seconds of silence before he heard Roman say, in a slightly strained voice, “We’re up in Patton’s room!” Immediately followed by some thumping noises and muffled curses. Thomas let out a sigh and went around the corner towards the stairs to investigate.

“Wherever are you going, Thomathy?” A cold voice rang out. Thomas turned to see Damien leaning against a wall, sneering to the best of his ability, considering the massive scarring that spanned half of his face. “Thormond, you haven’t even taken off your shoes or coat yet.”

“It’s Thomas.”

“That’s what I said.” Damien was idly picking at his fingers as if Thomas wasn’t even worth his time.Thomas rolled his eyes and decided to just take off his shoes and coat lik Damien said. It was easier than fighting the ghost, that much was for certain. As he did that Damien knocked on the wall next to him loudly, as if to call to Thomas’ attention. Damien let out a snort as he saw Thomas actually taking him up on what he said. As he did that Damien knocked on the wall next to him loudly, as if to call to Thomas’ attention. Thomas found this incredibly annoying, as with most things the yellow ghost did.

"Now can I got through, your majesty?" Thomas asked, sarcastically. Damien unexpectedly bristled at the term being used on him and let Thomas go without complaint. _Odd_ , Thomas thought. He'd have to save that conversation for later. As he went up to Patton's room, he saw Roman in front of the door, cooking badly shaken.

"Roman, are you okay?" Thomas asked

"What?" Roman said, "Of course I'm fine, nothing could be better, my dear Thomas!" He let out a laugh that was a tad shaky.

Thomas narrowed his eyes and said, "Are you sure?"

Roman nodded quickly and coughed loudly into his palm before saying, "So Thomas,do you want to watch a movie with me? We could watch that other movie Virgil is always talking about, what was that called? The black cauldron or something?"

"Sure," Thomas agreed. He wasn't entirely sure what was up with Roman but it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it and Thomas was more than willing to do anything after the boring day he had just had. Damien was gone when Thomas came back downstairs and he couldn't help but wonder what that whole thing was about. Was Damien just trying to get under Thomas' skin? Why now? And why did the phrase 'your majesty' make him stop pestering Thomas? The questions bothered Thomas while he made the popcorn. Roman and he sat down on the couch and shuffled through the various dvd's until they found the right one. Roman pressed the play button and made the volume very loud.

When Thomas asked if they could lower it, the red ghost whispered conspiratorially, "I'm trying to lure the emo out of his den. He's been moping for a while and I don't want him to go into one of his moods again." Thomas nodded in understanding and continued watching. Logan popped in for a short while to whisper something in Roman's ear before disappearing through a wall and Virgil eventually did come down, looking just as frazzled as Roman, but no grumpy aura emanated from around him like he usually did when he was about to enter 'one of his moods' as Roman put it. Thomas was starting to wonder if there was a pattern happening here that he just couldn't spot. What struck him as the weirdest part is that Patton had yet to come down to offer to make dinner or even just say 'hi' to Thomas like he usually did. Thomas waited though, to see if anybody pointed it out. He finally asked about it and Virgil and Roman shared a glance that definitely meant that Thomas was out of the loop on this one.

"Patton is..." Virgil started but then looked helplessly over to Roman.

"Patty cake is currently, uh, preparing a surprise for you," Roman said, almost wincing at the words.

Virgil snorted however, and said , "Understatement of the century."

They continued watching the movie until the credits rolled and Thomas was still left in the dark. He trusted Patton to tell him if something were truly wrong, but he couldn't help but feel worried about the ghost. Thomas resigned himself to fending for himself when it came to dinner, as Patton wasn't around to cook it for him. He looked through the fridge because god knows he doesn't trust himself with the stove. Last time Patton tried to help him learn how to cook, he almost burnt the kitchen down and that was _with_ Patton's supervision. He dug around and found one frozen slice of pizza that he microwaved and ate sadly. He didn't know how much he relied on Patton's amazing cooking skills until they were gone. After the pizza he decided that he needed to investigate the missing blue ghost.

He went upstairs and knocked on Patton's door. "Pat?" Thomas said, "Are you in there?"

"Uh, yes!" Patton said, sounding slightly out of breath.

Thomas left a silence for Patton to say something else but when he didn't, he said, "Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, Thomas just... give me one second." After hearing a bit of a scuffle, Patton cracked open his door and said, "See? I'm all fine."

"Okay, well if there's anything you need..." Thomas said, leaving the sentence hanging and then turned to go to his room.

"Wait!" Patton said, "If I tell you what's going on do you promise not to get mad?"

"Of course, Pat. What's up?" Patton guiltily and slowly opened his room up for Thomas to look around. The first thing that hit him was the smell. It was a pungent smell that invaded his nostrils and made him want to gag. The next thing he saw was a dog, and a lot of goo.

Thomas put two and two together and said, "Oh my god you let a dog give birth all over your room." Thomas looked in farther and saw a bunch of small puppies on the other side of the mom, all vying for a spot under their mother.

"Surprise?" Virgil said behind Thomas, almost giving him a heart attack. He quickly turned to see Roman, Logan, Virgil, and surprisingly Damien in the hallway behind him.

“You were all in on it.” Thomas realised. He remembered Damien knocking twice on the wall, which he previously thought was a means to tease Thomas, he now knew was a signal. Roman bringing Thomas to the living room and turning up the volume on the tv so they didn’t hear upstairs, Logan delivering news to Roman in the middle of the movie, and Virgil playing along with Roman as to not draw suspicion upstairs.

"Sorry we didn't tell you sooner, Thomas" Logan said, "We weren't entirely sure how you'd react and we figured it would be easier if you found out after the dog was done giving birth."

"I cannot say I expected this." Thomas said, still in a bit of shock, "Why didn't you guys just tell me?"

"Like Logan said, we weren't sure how you'd react." Virgil said, looking a tad nervous.

Thomas felt bad for making the purple ghost anxious so he said, "No, no, it's fine, really. Just tell me next time, please. I don't think my heart could take another shock like this."

Patton flashed a genuine smile at Thomas and then said, "Well I gotta finish up. She had four healthy puppies! One was stillborn but that's to be expected in off the streets litters. Now I have to clean the mama up. Usually I just drop them off outside the house, since the mom has clearly been living outside for a while and knows her way around and how to take care of her babies."

Patton wore a mischievous smile and booped Thomas on the nose, "But now that you're here, I can just have you drop her off at the shelter for me!"

Thomas glance at the puppies and returned the smile. He said, "I'd be glad to."

Patton went back in his room, leaving the door ajar and started using a towel to clean the dog and petting her along the way. From what Thomas could hear from the whispering it seemed to be along the lines of “You did great.” and “Look at all of those pups! Those are yours now.”

"Wait, can we keep one?" Roman asked, "They look so cute."

"We could name it Remy," Virgil added and when he got a shocked look from Roman for backing up his idea so quickly he added, "Y'Know, from Ratatouille?"

"I'll have to check the buyer's agreement and see if there are any rules against it." Thomas said, already mulling over the idea in his head. Perhaps having a dog around would give the ghosts something to bond over, especially because Damien was still here even though he really didn't have to be. There had to be some sort of motivation into him working with Patton, after all, they disagreed with each other all the time. Patton practically glowed with the idea and started talking about all the ways they could walk Remy and teach it things.

“We have to keep the babies in the apartment for eight weeks. Sorry, Thomas but them’s the rules if we want to keep one.”

“As long as the real estate contract says it’s fine I don’t see any problem with that.” Thomas said.

“Sounds great, kiddo.” Patton said, about to ruffle Thomas’ hair and then looked at his hands, filled with afterbirth and dog fur and thought the better of it.

"Hey wait a second." Thomas said, furrowing his eyebrow, "How can the dogs see you? I though most people couldn't."

"Honestly Thomas I thought you were smarter than that, really." Damien said, "Dogs are not _most people_ as you put it. They're dogs." Roman snickered and then quickly smothered it up.

"I have no idea who made up the ghost rules, but I know that they're very inconsistent." Logan said, a tinge of a smile on his face, "And as for the dog, I would not mind having one in the household. Perhaps it would teach _some_ of you responsibility." He glared at Roman and Virgil.

"Are we talking about keeping a dog?" Remus said, popping his head through a wall and scaring everyone, even Damien, in the process, "Because I'm in."

Thomas hadn't seen much of Remus since Christmas and took a good look at him again. Like he noticed before, there were no evident scars or wounds on his body, unlike most of the other ghosts, but his body itself was gaunt and skinny. However Remus had died it hadn't looked quick.

"What do you care about?" Roman grumbled, "You'd probably just let it die anyways."

"I take absolutely no offense to that!" Remus said, cheerfully, "History is not on my side, unfortunately."

"You ran over Mr. Mittens!"

"It was an accident! At least I didn't starve Ronny to death!"

"That was not my fault. He bit me whenever I went to give him food!"

"It was a snapping turtle, dumbass, it's supposed to bite you."

"Guys!" Patton hissed, "The mom is trying to sleep. Stop arguing or take it somewhere else."

"Sorry, Pat." Roman said. Remus made a noise that could have been a grumbled apology or a grumbled curse. Either way, both of the brothers stopped fighting.

"I'm going to check over the contract to see if this house permits dogs," Logan said, looking at Thomas, obviously gesturing for Thomas to come with him. As he and Logan walked away he could feel Damien's stare on his back. Thomas didn’t know why Damien had so easily unsettled him today. Perhaps it was the information that he got with his internet search, but he couldn’t put his finger down on what exactly bothered him so much about it. When they made it to Thomas' room, he took out his computer to find the digital copy of the buyer's agreement.

Logan seemed content just to watch Thomas go through files, but after a couple of minutes spoke up, "I wish I were still alive today."

This statement startled Thomas, because Logan was never the type to talk about this kind of stuff. He prompted Logan to speak with a simple, "Why's that?"

"Technology is so advanced nowadays." Logan laughed without mirth, "I mean look at the stuff from my time, back in the early 1900’s. We barely had electricity then, but now you have the whole world in your hands with just a couple of keys."

"Well yeah, but we're going to be saying that in a hundred years, too." Thomas pointed out, "Tech is always advancing."

"You won't be alive in a hundred years," Logan said, "But I'll still be dead."

There was a bit of a silence after that as Thomas pondered the words. It did seem quite random who became ghosts and who went... wherever people went when they weren't ghosts. Would Thomas become one of the numbers in this house, to forever exist and watch the world change around them while they themselves stay stagnant? What determined whether you'd become a ghost? It was crazy to think that after over 300 years of people living on earth, probably more if you thought about the native americans, and the sheer amount of people dying, only six would become ghosts.

Instead of voicing his thoughts, however, Thomas said, "Here's the buyer's agreement." and passed the computer over to logan for him to pore over it. Logan seemed to know his way around computers, as he had taken to meddling with his raspberry pi as much as possible to understand how it worked and quickly found his way to the part of the contract about pets.

“Good news, Thomas” Logan said, content to drop the heavy topic that had plagued their conversation earlier, “Dogs are allowed in the apartment.”

"That's great!" Thomas said, looking over at his door. He had just noticed the silently celebrating Roman and Virgil. Thomas wasn't sure why these two in particular were so excited about the puppy, but their enthusiasm caught on. "101 Dalmatians tonight?" Thomas asked.

"Yes!" Roman said, practically running to load up the movie downstairs.

"Two movies in one day?" Virgil asked, "Hell yeah. Hey, Thomas? Thanks for being cool about this. I know it wasn't the best of us to hide it from you."

"It's alright, seriously, don't worry." Thoams said, "I've wanted a dog since forever anyways. You guys are just speeding up the process." Virgil grinned and went to load up the movie, leaving Logan and Thomas in a bit of an awkward silence.

"Are you gonna-"

"Can I-" They both spoke at the same time.

"Apologies, you go first." Logan said.

"I was going to ask if you were going to come down and watch with us." Thomas said

"Actually I was going to ask if I could mess around with your computer for a bit," Logan said, "I wanted to try out this... 'mine craft' Virgil keeps telling me about and my rasberry pi had an exported version of it that I wanted to do something with."

Thomas smiled and said, "Go for it, dude. Just please don't break my computer."

"Lit." Logan said, completely monotone.

Thomas burst out laughing. "Did Virgil also teach you that?"

"As a matter of fact, he did."

Thomas left Logan to head downstairs and immediately asked Virgil, "What did you do to Logan?"

Virigl batted his eyes and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, what _are_ you talking about, Thomas?" Roman asked.

"Logan just responded to me with the phrase 'lit', that's what I'm talking about" Thomas said, giggling.

"Oh, that." Virgil said flippantly.

Obviously not going to get more out of the purple ghost, Thomas turned towards Roman, "Why no popcorn?"

"Virgil kept making fun of me for wasting it so in protest, I decided to not make it," Roman said haughtily.

"Aren't you letting Virgil win then, Princey?" Damien said, from behind Thomas. Thomas almost jumped at the sudden and unexpected intrusion.

"I- hm." Roman said, "Hey wait a minute, you're right!"

"Of course I am."

"You're no fun, did I ever tell you that?" Virgil said, pouting that his plan was revealed.

"Many times." Damien said.

"I'm going to go make popcorn and there's nothing you can do about it," Roman said, sticking his tongue out at Virgil.

"You do you, boo," Virgil said, and then stuck his tongue back at Roman.

"I swear I live with a bunch of children." Damien said, rolling his eyes and settling himself on the couch, right next to where Roman usually sits.

"Well technically..." Virgil said, "I was a day away from 18. Technically a child."

"Semantics." Damien said.

"You never struck me as a 101 Dalmations kinda guy, Damien." Thomas said.

"What can I say? Dogs are more bearable than you guys any day."

Virgil whispered under his breath, "What about snakes?"

"I'm back!" Roman practically sang and his grin got wider when he saw where Damien was sitting. Thomas knew Roman had a thing for the yellow ghost, but he was so obvious about it, it was a bit suspect that Damien had yet to comment on it. The movie started and Thomas couldn't help but watch the yellow ghost throughout. Damien was quiet for the whole movie and barely even moved. He occasionally glared at Thomas when he watched Damien for too long, but nothing else. Thomas couldn't focus when the yellow ghost was around, every part of Damien set him on edge. When it was finally over, Thomas called it a night and went to bed but first went to check on Patton. He gently knocked and when he didn't hear a response he creaked open the door quietly. There he saw Patton, cuddled up with all the puppies and seemingly asleep. Thomas was under the impression that the ghosts couldn't sleep so he went to talk to Logan.

"As I said before, we do not have to sleep." Logan said, "That doesn't mean we can't."

Thomas was so tired that he let out a simple, "Huh." and then said, "You can keep that for the night, it's not like I'm using it." referencing the computer that Logan had been using. Logan smiled and after he left, Thomas was alone to reflect on the day. He mostly thought about Damien and how the air of mystery around the ghost only seemed to thicken the more he learned of the ghost. He had a couple of ideas as to how the ghost had died but he'd never know for sure unless the ghost told him and that certainly would never happen. Thomas pondered these things until he fell asleep.

He dreamt a vague dream of a puppy and a young man on a hill that he quickly forgot in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Special shoutout to Some_werid_werson for finally giving me the motivation to finish this chapter.  
> As usual, you can find me and chat me up on my tumblr, @egregious_nidus and I'll see y'all in the next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm excited to hear your theories on how the rest died. I think I made Patton, Virgil, and Logan's deaths easy to guess, but as for the rest you'll have to wait and see. Kudos and comments are never expected and always appreciated.  
> I also don't know what ships I'll have for this fic, as I am a big multishipper and couldn't choose. If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to ask me.  
> My tumblr is @Egregrious-Nidus, feel free to ask me questions!  
> See y'all next time!


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